BYU Cougars guard Richie Saunders (15) and forward Atiki Ally Atiki (4) guard Fresno State Bulldogs center Eduardo Andre (35) around the basket during a game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. BYU won 85-56.
Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
BYU basketball coach Mark Pope used the word “anomalous” to describe the Cougars’ last two games, that 90-88 victory over UCF five days ago in which the Knights scored a whopping 62 points in the second half and Saturday’s 93-83 loss to Oklahoma State in which the Cowboys scored 49 points in the first half and shot a season-high 59.6% in the game.
Perhaps he should have thrown in the word “defenseless,” because that’s also a good way to describe the Cougars in their last three halves. Suddenly, what was one of BYU’s strengths through nearly two-thirds of its first Big 12 schedule has become a liability.
It is extra troubling because before they faced BYU, UCF and Oklahoma State had two of the three least-efficient offenses in the league, along with West Virginia.
“It is a defensive issue for us right now. We got hurt in transition. We got hurt in shell,” Pope told the BYU Sports Radio Network. “We knew shell principles were going to be wildly important coming into this game and like I said, credit to Oklahoma State. They played outstanding basketball. They certainly earned this win.”
What is going on?
Big 12 teams have always known they have had a quickness advantage over certain BYU lineups, but in recent weeks Oklahoma, UCF and OSU have been able to exploit it. They’ve looked to spread the Cougars out on defense, get into isolation and one-on-one situations, and go to work.
Oklahoma State “is a really athletic team. It is a guard heavy team. They put four guys on the floor that really can shoot it, can pass it, can dribble it, can get to the rim, are really explosive,” Pope said in the postgame news conference, when asked if he was surprised that normally plodding OSU played effectively at BYU’s faster pace. “We expected this to be a game with a ton of space and a ton of athleticism, and it was. It turned out to be exactly what I thought.”
Pope couldn’t turn to one of BYU’s lengthier, quicker defenders — 6-foot-10 Atiki Ally Atiki — because the Cougars were playing catch-up the entire game and couldn’t afford to not have either Fouss Traore or Aly Khalifa, who are better offensive players than Atiki, on the floor.
Traore’s layup with 8:38 remaining trimmed OSU’s lead to 71-60, but the big man was gassed and replied by Khalifa during a timeout with 8:11 left on the clock. The Cougars misfired on their next three possessions, while OSU freshman center Brandon Garrison scored five straight points inside on Khalifa to steady the Cowboys.
Traore, who would log only 21 minutes, 20 seconds in the contest, returned at the 5:32 mark and scored four quick points, but the Cougars could never get defensive stops and the Cowboys started parading to the free throw line, using their superior quickness to draw fouls on the slower Cougars.
“Yeah, I mean, we were right there. We were knocking on the door of that 10-point lead they had for most of the game. They made really, really tough shots,” BYU guard Trevin Knell said. “And that is something that we are really going to hone in on going into next week is that we have to guard our yard, and guard without fouling. There were a couple times where they got to the rim and finished on and and-one. If we can just limit those, we will be right there.”
The bad news for BYU is that the schedule now gets tougher in their six remaining league games — three at home, three on the road — beginning Tuesday night when No. 12 Baylor visits the Marriott Center (7 p.m. MST, ESPN). The Cougars will also host TCU and OSU at home, and travel to Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State.
With a No. 19 ranking in the AP Top 25, a No. 10 NET ranking and a No. 16 standing in Kenpom.com, BYU is still safely in the NCAA Tournament at this point in the season. Most bracketologists have them as a No. 6 seed in the Big Dance.
But the precipitous drop in their defensive ranking is a huge cause for concern. Have teams figured out the Cougars? Or were the last two outings an anomaly?
Baylor’s visit Tuesday will go a long way toward providing an accurate description of the Cougars, after the Bears downed them 81-72 back on Jan. 9 at Foster Pavilion in Waco, Texas, but shot just 43.1% from the floor.
The difference was at the free-throw line, where Baylor went 21 of 28 compared to 11 of 14 for BYU.
“We just have to find a way to be a little more edgy and a little bit more physical without fouling,” Pope said.