There hasn’t been a lot to nitpick about regarding the BYU men’s basketball team lately.
The Cougars have barely broken a sweat in rolling out to a 4-0 record, the latest victory Saturday night’s 93-50 walloping of visiting Morgan State in front of 13,736 at the Marriott Center.
But there was this in the first half: BYU committed nine turnovers, after having posted just five giveaways the entire game in Wednesday’s 105-48 crushing of Southeastern Louisiana.
“We are playing together and we are being us together, and I love it.” — BYU guard Richie Saunders.
The Cougars got it cleaned up in the final 20 minutes, however, with just two turnovers.
Must have been coach Mark Pope’s halftime speech, right?
Hardly.
Sixth man Richie Saunders said coaches just told the Cougars to relax and play their style of basketball against a team that led the nation in forcing turnovers last season.
“As surprising as it was, it was more of a breathing time,” Saunders said on the BYU Sports Radio Network.
“It was, ‘Alright guys, let’s just get back to us.’ We came back and we were us. We were able to get back to who we are that (second half) with just two turnovers.”
Pope said he liked the Cougars’ start — they jumped out to a 35-18 lead, but after a bucket by Trevin Knell, they committed four straight turnovers.
“I liked us for the first 14 minutes of the first half,” Pope said. “We had a little three or four-minute slump.”
Mostly, BYU had too much size for the team from Baltimore, as Fouss Traore dominated inside in the first half and finished with 17 points on 8 of 11 shooting.
Jaxson Robinson was 7 of 13 for a game-high 18 points and Noah Waterman added 15, including a 7 of 8 performance from the free-throw line.
BYU (4-0) went on a 20-0 run in the second half to erase any doubts after leading just 42-29 at halftime.
One key was BYU’s bench, which had another outstanding showing with 44 points.
Robinson and Dallin Hall, who had eight points in 24 minutes, came off the bench for the fourth-straight game.
Hall may replace Trey Stewart in the starting lineup down the road, but for now the system is working for the Cougars.
Saunders added 12 points off the bench on 4 of 5 shooting.
“It has been super fun to see that we are rolling,” Saunders said. “It doesn’t matter who is on the floor, or what combinations. … I love playing with all of these guys. We are playing for each other.”
Big man Aly Khalifa, the transfer from Charlotte, missed his second straight game with knee soreness. Dawson Baker, the transfer from UC Irvine, has yet to play, and Pope said Wednesday they hope to get him back sometime in December.
Knell chipped in eight points and Spencer Johnson had seven. The Cougars shot 56% from the field and held Morgan State to 35%.
BYU won the rebounding battle 41-24.
Now comes the tough stretch, although BYU’s nonconference schedule is nothing to write home about, outside of the upset of No. 17 San Diego State eight days ago.
BYU faces Arizona State on Thanksgiving night in the 2023 Vegas Showdown at the Mandalay Bay Events Center arena.
Pope said the entire traveling party will have a nice dinner together on Wednesday night.
“But Thursday is (all) basketball, and Friday is (all) basketball,” he said. “We will have to find other things for our families to do.”
Back to Saturday’s game, Pope was mildly irritated that the Cougars got up only 29 3-pointers, making 10. He has said he wants to average 35 a night.
“The one thing we know is good shots are going to be hard to come by in the Big 12,” he said, which is why he chided Waterman and Knell for passing up open 3-point opportunities.
Four Cougars knocked down two triples apiece: Waterman, Robinson, Saunders and Hall.
“We are playing together and we are being us together, and I love it,” Saunders said.