Provo • The BYU men’s basketball team put a hurting on an NAIA team just a few days ago. On Monday, in its first official game, the team escaped with a 60-56 victory over Idaho State, which went just 5-15 in the Big Sky Conference last season.
But the Cougars want to contend for a West Coast Conference championship in their final season in the conference. To do that, they will need to figure some things out — and fast — after Monday’s performance.
Here are three observations from BYU’s first win of the season.
1. Late-game grit
BYU trailed by eight points twice as the game wound down. It trailed by five with less than three minutes to play. But the Cougars didn’t quit and found ways to score, mainly by getting fouled and benefitting from the double bonus.
BYU showed some grit down the stretch. Spencer Johnson made a 3-pointer that put Cougars up 58-56, and they defended at the rim and forced a wild layup that missed everything.
Fousseyni Traore, who had 15 points and 11 rebounds, made a pair of clutch free throws as well.
“It wasn’t easy out there. It was crazy,” Traore said. “Like coach always says: You just have to find a way to win. I think ... that’s what we did.”
Coach Mark Pope said gutting out the victory gave the Cougars the opportunity to approach the game positively while simultaneously learning important lessons early in the season.
“In some ways it really exposed some of the things that we can really dial into and really make a fix,” Pope said. And maybe it actually made some believers out of our guys about like, ‘Oh wow, we really do need to fix A, B and C.’”
2. Feckless offense
From an offensive standpoint, the Cougars were simply bad.
They shot just 3 of 16 from the 3-point line. They committed 23 turnovers. They had only nine assists. What saved them is their advantage in points off turnovers (23-16) and second chance points (10-4).
Pope took responsibility for the offensive struggles. He said the amount of freedom he gave to his team may have led to minimal ball movement, and tried to call some plays in the second half. He added that he’s fighting his instinct to control the offense too much.
“I want to control the game and I’m not going to do it this year,” Pope said. “We’re going to be better than that. So we’ll pick and choose our spots and figure it out.”
Pope said he felt “super disappointed” by the high turnovers and lack of assists. He credited Idaho State’s switching defense and playing in the gaps. He also intimated that the ball stuck with too much one-on-one play, or too many of his players weren’t moving.
“It will never work that way,” Pope said. “And that hasn’t been us.”
3. Rotation decisions
Atiki Ally Atiki, who is set to play a big role this season, played less than 10 minutes. Transfer Rudi Williams did not finish the game, giving way to true freshman Dallin Hall.
Williams struggled in his first official game in a BYU uniform. He shot 2 of 9 from the field and had four turnovers. Atiki only had two points and two rebounds, and did not make a shot.
Pope said he like Hall’s pace and having him on the floor “was helping us actually feel like we were in familiar spaces.” He followed up that comment with saying he has confidence in every player on the roster and that many players will end up closing games.
“We’re really fortunate to have a bunch of guys that we could turn to kind of when the game is fitting their feel in the moment a little bit,” Pope said.
On Atiki, Pope said “it just wasn’t his best night,” but that he is “growing so much, so fast.” He did not sound concerned about Atiki moving forward.
“He’s going to have a spectacular year,” Pope said. “This is just a little blip on the radar. He’ll play more and he’ll play much more compelling minutes for us, too.”
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