3-point attempts couldn’t save BYU from determined Cincinnati in loss

Cincinnati snapped BYU’s 10-game home win streak and popped the Big 12 bubble for the Cougars Saturday night in a 71-60 win.

It was a tough loss for the 12-2, 0-1 Cougars, exposing BYU as a one-trick panicked pony when outside shots didn’t fall.

Literally.

With BYU failing to mount an inside attack, Trevin Knell made nine 3-point buckets. When he sat down for five minutes midway through the second half in a one-point game, Cincinnati rode a hot Day Day Thomas and simply bullied BYU around, racing to a double-digit lead they never gave up.

“We probably started pressing a little bit,” said BYU head coach Mark Pope. “We got stagnant rather than getting deeper into our possessions. We missed 33 3s. Some of them were fatigued 40-footers.”

BYU went for a stretch of 10 minutes with only two points in the second half.

On the other side, former Utah Valley big man Aziz Bandaogo had a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards. BYU’s big men scored just three points inside the paint.

As hot as Knell was posting his career night, he left the game when the Cougars needed his help the most. After he made his ninth trey and was hunting down Chase Fischer’s school record 10th, he found himself out of the game.

Knell was on the bench as Cincinnati made a 16-2 run and BYU had no offensive punch. All the chucking up long balls amounted to some ugly brickwork. Players not named Knell went 4 for 32 from beyond the arc. They were rushed and out of sync and will have a sleepless night after this game.

Knell was the only BYU player who could find any rhythm in making 3 point shots. As a team, BYU attempted a school record 46 and made just 13.

This is a BYU team that has four shooters making more than 40% from beyond the arc and 38% from the 3-point line on the season, But on this night, starting point guard Dallin Hall went 2 for 12, Spencer Johnson 0 for 3, Noah Waterman 1 for 9, Jaxson Robinson 1 for 5, Richie Saunders 0 for 2 and Aly Khalifa 0 for 1.

That’s a stinky pasture biscuit performance from distance.

And it was costly for BYU’s start in league play.

Cincinnati exposed how BYU needs a physical presence inside on both ends of the court in Big 12 play.

Pope will certainly talk to his squad in the next 48 hours about rebounding, physicality and improving what he calls his wedge action to grab missed shots. He said the team’s wedge work was the worst of the season in this loss.

The Cougars came into this game as the national leader in rebounding margin. Cincinnati was No. 2. The Bearcats out-rebounded BYU by nine, which showed how physically they went after BYU on the glass and triumphed mostly in the second half.

BYU missed 3s and Cincy grabbed them.

Pope tried to bring back inside power player Fouss Traore, who hadn’t played since Nov. 24th in a win over North Carolina State.

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Traore was ineffective. It looked like he didn’t have any pop in his legs and he didn’t move like his old self. BYU tried to get to the hoop inside but managed just 12 points in the paint, most of those on pass play layups from Khalifa. 

Thus, the ball chucking.

This was the same kind of outside shooting failure the Cougars experienced in their other loss at Utah when they went 7 of 30 from beyond the arc.

That’s a pattern in two losses.

The Big 12 will throw athleticism, length, speed and physical play at the Cougars and they’ll need to learn how to respond. 

Cincinnati got past and inside BYU’s usually outstanding defense and because of that, they got to the line, outscoring BYU 19-5 from the line.

That’s another factor.

If opponents are going to attack BYU and draw fouls, it disrupts BYU’s plan to run the ball, push the action and score in transition, essentially slowing down the pace the Cougars like to play.  

That’s exactly what the Bearcats did. They weathered BYU’s 10-point early lead and the home court fans and whittled away possession by possession until they controlled the game.

BYU will take to the road now at Baylor on Tuesday. Because the Cougars won’t practice Sunday and Monday is a travel day, experiencing the loss on the court is the main stretch of preparation the Cougars will get before playing again.