The 23rd-ranked Cougars charge into Saturday night’s regular-season finale against visiting Utah in Provo as holders of a seven-game winning streak, five of them against Quad 1 opponents.
That earned them a bye into the Big 12 Conference tournament quarterfinals, and BYU is in position to land a very respectable seed in the NCAA Tournament.
BYU rides into the weekend on the heels of perhaps its best win of the season — an 88-85 double-overtime job at No. 10 Iowa State, which was 33-1 at home in the past two seasons before BYU (22-8, 13-6) turned that 1 into a 2.
Overcoming a whopping 29 turnovers, the Cougars compensated by dominating the boards 52-24 and hitting 11 3-pointers. Richie Saunders scored a game-high 23 points, going 13 of 13 at the foul line, and Dallin Hall came off the bench to toss in 22, going 4 of 9 on 3-pointers.
First-year coach Kevin Young traces the turnaround to a halftime meeting in Orlando on Feb. 1, when BYU trailed Central Florida 40-38 before coming back for an 81-75 verdict.
“Enough was enough in terms of teams punking us, pushing us, not letting us hold space, taking the ball from us,” he said. “And I think since that moment we have grown a ton in that area and we are really imposing our will on teams now.”
That led to Young going on the Cougars’ radio network Tuesday night and using three words to describe the latest win.
“Just toughness, honestly,” he said.
While BYU is rolling to the finish line, the Utes (16-14, 8-11) appear to be simply marking time until the season ends and they can rebuild their program under Alex Jensen. The alum and former NBA interim coach was named Thursday to replace Craig Smith, who was fired last week.
The 48-year old Jensen played for a national championship under Rick Majerus in 1998 and served as an assistant under Majerus for four years at Saint Louis before going into the NBA. Reports say that Jensen might hire his Utah teammate, current G-League coach and 17-year NBA veteran Andre Miller, as an assistant.
“My basketball journey has been filled with so many people who have helped shape me as a coach and person, ultimately guiding me to this opportunity,” Jensen said.
Utah is 1-2 under interim coach Josh Eilert, including a 71-69 home loss Tuesday night to West Virginia, the school he guided to a 9-23 mark last season as the interim coach after Bob Huggins resigned following a DUI arrest.
Gabe Madsen scored a game-high 23 points for the Utes, hitting 5 of 14 3-pointers, and leads them in scoring at 15.5 ppg.
Foul shooting has been a problem for
Utah, which made just 22 of 32 on Tuesday night and ranks 357th out of 364 Division I teams at the line, hitting only 64 percent.
The Utes edged BYU 73-72 on Jan. 18 in Salt Lake City as Ezra Ausar scored a career-high 26 points.
–Field Level Media
