BYU wants to keep an aggressive mentality and search for a better result at Cincinnati in a Big 12 showdown on Saturday night.
The Cougars (15-7, 6-5 Big 12) had their four-game winning streak snapped when they lost 85-74 against No. 20 Arizona on Wednesday.
The Bearcats (13-9, 3-8) ended a four-game skid with a 93-83 win at UCF on Wednesday.
Egor Demin led BYU with 16 points on 7-of-20 shooting. He’s the Cougars’ second-leading scorer at 11.0 points per game, behind Richie Saunders (15.1). Demin is a projected lottery pick in many mock drafts, and BYU coach Kevin Young wants the freshman from Russia to continue to attack on offense.
“We’ve talked to him about being more aggressive for sure,” Young said. “I thought he forced a couple of the 3-pointers, we strive on being able to get the ball into the paint and spray it out. We call it ‘paint the grate.’ He forced a couple off the dribble, but we like him being aggressive. He’s at his best getting downhill and getting to the rim.”
The attacking mentality rubbed off on Dallin Hall, who scored 11 points and dished out six assists off the bench. The junior adds 6.2 points per game but played with an edge Young wants to see more frequently.
“I thought he was incredible,” Young said. “That’s the Dallin we want. He’s been a little reserved — for lack of a better term — during parts of the season. I love seeing that out of him. If we can bottle that up and pull that out of him that will pay huge dividends for us.”
Cincinnati guard Day Day Thomas recorded season highs with 20 points and six assists against UCF. He was well above his 7.8 points per game average.
“It’s been a tough stretch for us the last month and a tough first half of the league,” Cincinnati coach Wes Miller said. “We haven’t had nights where we’ve put it all together and have a bunch of guys play like we expect them to play and play like they expect themselves to play.”
Simas Lukosius leads the Bearcats in scoring at 11.8 ppg. Dillon Mitchell adds 10.7 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds per contest, Jizzle James averages 10.5 points and 3.9 assists and Dan Skillings Jr. contributes 10.3 ppg.
–Field Level Media
