BYU basketball: Centers Traore, Khalifa give Cougars a one-two punch

Summing up the No. 19 BYU men’s basketball team, the team his Oklahoma State Cowboys will host on Saturday at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, coach Mike Boynton described the Cougars as a team full of outstanding shooters directed by a 7-foot point guard.

As shocking as that sounds, the seventh-year OSU coach wasn’t exaggerating.

When 6-foot-11 junior Aly Khalifa is on the court, BYU’s offense runs through him, so in essence the so-called “Egyptian Magician” really plays like a point guard, at least on offense. And the Charlotte transfer absolutely loves that role — whether starting or coming off the bench.

“I’m enjoying every minute of this. I am really happy here, on and off the court,” Khalifa said Thursday as the Cougars (6-5, 18-6) prepared to face the last-place Cowboys (2-9, 10-14) in the first of two Big 12 matchups this season. Oklahoma State will return the game March 9 in Provo.

Of course, Khalifa didn’t enjoy the last week of January and the first week of February. The native of Alexandria, Egypt, caught the flu bug and was sidelined for nearly two weeks, missing the Cougars’ win at West Virginia and loss at Oklahoma.

He said he was “flat on my back” in bed for nine or 10 of those days, and lost nearly nine pounds.

He acknowledges being surprised when coach Mark Pope inserted him back into the starting lineup, saying 6-foot-6 Fouss Traore was “outstanding” against the Mountaineers and Sooners.

“Coach just wanted to manage my minutes and the best way was for me to start and see how I felt,” he said. “Just starting the Kansas State game, I was really tired and a little gassed. But I feel like each game I am getting better and with the UCF game I was a little better and hopefully the next game I will be better.”

Khalifa had eight points, six assists and two rebounds in just under 20 minutes against the Wildcats, then logged 22.5 minutes against the Knights, scoring eight points and going 4 of 4 from the free-throw line. He admits that UCF’s 7-foot Ibrahima Diallo gave him some trouble up top, which is why he committed four turnovers.

“This UCF game was so different. Diallo was so big, and he was like hugging me every possession and I couldn’t really find anybody open,” Khalifa said. “I feel like (teams) have been trying so hard to not let us shoot the ball (from 3-point range) that we have been getting layups, so it has (still) been good.”

Khalifa, and Traore, when he’s in, will have their hands full again Saturday as OSU features one of the best freshmen in the Big 12 inside, 6-11 center Brandon Garrison. He leads OSU with 34 blocked shots.

Khalifa, a self-deprecating sort of guy, said his plan against Garrison is to “not get dunked on.”

On a more serious note, he said a couple days of film study have shown him that Garrison doesn’t necessarily play like a freshman.

“He is really talented, a really good kid, long and athletic,” Khalifa said. “It feels like we have been facing long, athletic kids in the Big 12 all year. … I don’t really care who I play, to be honest. I just try to win and help my team win,”

Pope made a couple changes to his starting lineup during the recent homestand, putting Khalifa and wing Trevin Knell back into the starting lineup and bringing Traore and leading scorer Jaxson Robinson in off the bench.

Will that lineup with arguably BYU’s top two offensive weapons coming off the bench continue Saturday, or next Tuesday when the Cougars return to the Marriott Center to host No. 12 Baylor?

“I like it,” Pope said of the current starting lineup. “We will probably end up changing 10 more times before the end of the season. Let’s hope we play that many games. But I like it. … I have to believe we have started more different lineups than any team in the Big 12.”

Pope said all the changes have been “relatively seamless” because of the players’ attitudes.

“I would probably expect changes as we move forward just because (the Big 12) requires it,” he said, noting how differently teams play BYU, as opposed to other teams.

Every Big 12 coach who has played or will play BYU this year, including OSU’s Boynton, has said the Cougars’ playing style on offense is unlike any other team in the league.

“They’re really, really good,” Boynton said of the Cougars. “Everybody on their team can shoot. … It’s the most unique team we’ll play probably all year. Offensively, they’re electric. We will have to be really, really good defensively to have a chance.”

Oklahoma State fell 66-62 at Oklahoma last Saturday and hasn’t played since. The Cowboys lost their first three league games at home, but have won their last two at Gallagher-Iba, a facility that is connected to OSU’s football stadium — where BYU lost in double overtime last November — and seats 13,611.

The Cowboys drew 7,623 fans to their 75-72 win over Kansas State two weeks ago in Stillwater.

The Cougars are expecting OSU’s best effort, Khalifa said.

“It is just crazy,” he said. “The Big 12 is the best league in the country and obviously playing on the road, anywhere, it is hard to win on the road.”

Of the freshman Garrison, Pope said: “He’s got a calmness about him. I think he’s really, really impressive. And I think they got a rising star on their hands. I think he is going to be really special.”

Pope also provided an update Thursday on BYU freshman forward Marcus Adams Jr., whose father died unexpectedly last week. Adams Jr. flew home to Southern California to be with his mother and brother during this difficult time, Pope said, and will rejoin the team when it reconvenes in Provo on Monday.

“As you can imagine, there are no words, right? It is just brutal. But he’s with his mom and his brother and they have a close group of support people around them,” Pope said. “How do you describe a tragedy like that? They are trying to take care of a couple of things through the end of this week. Then he will be bouncing back and forth as need be.”