How the spirit of giving is fueling BYU’s holiday happiness

If the holiday proverb is true that it really is better to give than to receive, BYU must have the happiest locker room in America because these Cougars are giving all the time. As a result, No. 17 BYU (10-1) is enjoying its best start in 13 years.

This is a team that assists each other. They are playing selflessly in a college game that has become just the opposite with NIL, the transfer portal and the lucrative coaching market. BYU’s leading scorer comes off the bench. Playing time is evenly distributed and most noticeably, these Cougars have no problem passing up a good shot for a better one.

Saturday against Georgia State, BYU had 23 assists with a season-low four turnovers. The Cougars entered the week before Christmas ranked No. 1 in the NCAA with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.17. BYU is No. 3 in assists-per-game (21.5) and after Friday’s battle against Bellarmine (7 p.m., ESPN+), the Cougars will boast the nation’s No. 1 assist leader.

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Aly Khalifa, who missed three games with a sore knee, is one game shy of meeting the NCAA’s requirement to qualify for its national rankings. The 6-foot-11 junior transfer from Charlotte, working as his own “Giving Machine,” hasn’t turned the ball over in five straight games while handing out 21 assists.

McNeese guard Omar Cooper is the current national leader with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 5.75. Khalifa’s ratio is a jaw-dropping 15. In addition, BYU senior Spencer Johnson is No. 12 (3.86).

As a team in head-to-head combat, the Cougars have 115 more assists than their 11 opponents.

When compared to the last 11 games of last season, the numbers are even more revealing. During BYU’s disappointing 5-6 finish, the Cougars had 134 assists. During the 10-1 start this season, they have 237.

More surprising than the number surge is that BYU is doing it with mostly the same players, including Johnson, Noah Waterman, Jaxson Robinson, Atiki Ally Atiki, Fousseyni Traore, Dallin Hall, Trey Stewart and Richie Saunders.

Trevin Knell missed last season with shoulder surgery and Khalifa and Dawson Baker joined the squad through the transfer portal. Highly touted freshman Marcus Adams Jr. has yet to play.

That’s it. The more they win, the more mind-boggling it becomes.

Mark Pope and his staff, including the addition of Collin Terry as his fourth assistant, have transformed a streetcar running on bald tires into a race car that most are finding tough to keep up with. Pope retooled his program using the same tools.

BYU’s NET ranking was No. 91 last January. Monday, even with the injury to Traore that has sidelined him since Thanksgiving, the Cougars are No. 4 and ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projects BYU as a No. 3-seed if the NCAA Tournament started this week.

These are good times, but the holiday fun began for the Cougars in August when the team spent two weeks on the road in Europe. Somewhere during that excursion, amid the sightseeing, local cuisine and a few exhibition games, the roster formed a manifesto.

The guys determined to turn a corner and redefine BYU basketball as a group that plays defense, rebounds, distributes and shoots the lights out — all key ingredients to a 10-1 start and an NCAA Tournament finish.

Everybody knows the big battles are on the way in the Big 12. However, the Cougars’ lofty position in the NET will only be strengthened, even in a loss, as they play such a strong conference schedule. In addition to BYU, there are five Big 12 programs ranked among the NET’s top 18, including No. 1 Houston.

Pope deserves a holiday plate full of cookies that he can share with his staff. At 10-1, he can justifiably be as jolly as Old Saint Nick — only he’s much younger and thinner and prefers a tailored blue suit over a red one. Pope is also a bit seasoned himself. He has been on this ride before, both as a player and a coach, but this year seems different.

There is a noticeable comfort to his side-court demeanor. His highs aren’t as high and his lows aren’t as low, and he’s smiling a lot more often in between. He loves this team and after a couple of tough seasons, BYU’s analytically driven leader is happy to let the numbers tout their togetherness.

The debate over whether it’s more fun to give than to receive will always remain in the eyes of the beholder, but there is no disputing it’s more enjoyable to win than lose. The Cougars have figured out that the spirit of giving, passing up a good shot for a better one, is the key to their winning throughout the holiday season, the Big 12 season and beyond.

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Dave McCann is a contributor to the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.