Are No. 21 Cougars too dependent on the 3-point shot in rough-and-tumble Big 12?

Legendary pro and college basketball coach Kelvin Sampson has seen just about everything from the sidelines, but what he witnessed Tuesday during No. 4 Houston’s 75-68 win over No. 21 BYU had the 44-year veteran coach more than slightly amused.

“BYU is unique. We have not (seen a team like them) and may not, unless we play them again in the Big 12 tournament,” Sampson said after the blue Cougars fired up 38 triples in front of 16,553 fans at the Marriott Center. “I mean, they are just different than everybody you play, because of the 3-point line.”

“BYU is unique. We have not (seen a team like them) and may not, unless we play them again in the Big 12 tournament . I mean, they are just different than everybody you play, because of the 3-point line.” — Houston coach Kelvin Sampson

It is no secret that BYU lives and dies with the 3-point shot — coach Mark Pope said before the season even started that triples would be used frequently to offset a perceived talent gap in the Big 12. But what occurred in BYU’s fourth Big 12 loss, and second league loss at home, was almost beyond the pale.

It is one thing to take 3-pointers when you are relatively open and close to the arc. It is another to fire them from 6 feet beyond the line, which is what BYU resorted to early and often against one of the country’s best defensive teams.

BYU ended up making only 11 3-pointers (28.9%), which is one of several reasons why the Cougars (2-4, 14-5) fell short in their bid to pull off a mild upset. Houston, No. 1 in the NET rankings and Kenpom.com, was a 3-point favorite.

Two of BYU’s tallest players, 6-foot-10 Noah Waterman and 6-11 Aly Khalifa, combined to go 6 of 10 from beyond the arc. But the guys believed to be BYU’s top shooters — Spencer Johnson, Dallin Hall, Jaxson Robinson, Trevin Knell and Richie Saunders — combined to go 5 of 29.

Still, the Cougars were right there at the end. Knell and Saunders missed open 3-pointers with less than a minute remaining.

“Waterman, I don’t think he took an easy 3 all night. I mean, he was flying into those things,” Sampson said. “As soon as he caught it, it was out. I mean, those are tough shots. Khalifa banked one in in the first half. Robinson nailed one from 40 feet with 20 (seconds) on the shot clock. I mean, those shots … are Hail Mary (shots).”

Yes, Robinson did hit one from beyond NBA 3-point range. But he also put up several from really deep that didn’t come close when Houston was building its 59-46 lead midway through the second half.

“Yeah, it is a really nuanced conversation for us. I mean, we got up 38 (treys) and that is important for us,” Pope said when asked if there were too many deep, contested 3s. “And we are going to cross the line sometimes into getting super belligerent. We just are. And we did tonight. And that hurt us.”

Pope said there were five or six possessions when the Cougars should have been more patient and tested Houston’s defense a bit more.

“But those conversations are super complicated with a locker room full of guys that are desperately trying to do exactly what we need to do to win,” he said. “Because a lot of times guys end up swinging too wide. And we can’t swing too wide. So that’s going to be a work in progress all season. And we are going to push up against the line a lot this season and hopefully we will weave our way into a little bit better production.”

When the Cougars did go inside the arc, results were positive. They were 14 of 21 on 2-point tries (66.7%) and the 68 points they scored tied TCU for the most Houston has given up all season.

“We were willing to give away some 2s on switches versus those guys nailing some 3s,” Sampson said.

Junior post Fousseyni Traore made two of those field goals, and was 3 of 4 from the free-throw line, after sitting out the first 30 minutes of the game. However, like Knell and Saunders, Traore missed an open shot in the paint with 1:18 remaining that would have given BYU the lead. 

Surprise stat: BYU outscored Houston 28-22 in the paint. Another surprise: Houston was averaging fewer than eight 3-pointers per game, but made 10 of 23.

Why didn’t Traore see action earlier in the game?

“I am trying to learn. Rare has the occasion been where I have had all three bigs available. We are still in the process of figuring out who works where and when,” Pope said. “… I probably should have figured him out a little bit earlier in this game. But we are all learning. We are learning kinda how we fit and where we are and what we do.”

BYU held steady at No. 5 in the NET rankings, despite the loss, and are No. 10 in Kenpom.com. How good is the Big 12? BYU was No. 4 in Kenpom.com when Big 12 play began and has dropped only six spots despite going 2-4 in those games.

Texas (3-3, 14-5) visits BYU on Saturday at noon in a game the Cougars simply have to have if they hope to stay in the national rankings and get back on course.

“The margin for error is pretty slim,” Pope said. “We just didn’t quite capitalize. But I got a ton of confidence that we will.”

1 of 39

2 of 39

3 of 39

4 of 39

5 of 39

6 of 39

7 of 39

8 of 39

9 of 39

10 of 39

11 of 39

12 of 39

13 of 39

14 of 39

15 of 39

16 of 39

17 of 39

18 of 39

19 of 39

20 of 39

21 of 39

22 of 39

23 of 39

24 of 39

25 of 39

26 of 39

27 of 39

28 of 39

29 of 39

30 of 39

31 of 39

32 of 39

33 of 39

34 of 39

35 of 39

36 of 39

37 of 39

38 of 39

39 of 39