Mark Pope will take his No. 20-ranked team to Iowa State for a Wednesday night ESPN2 game against the No. 6 Cyclones, who hold the nation’s sixth-longest home winning streak at 17 games. Iowa State is known for forcing turnovers, ranking No. 2 in the country at taking the ball away at 17.9 per game. Iowa State also has the nation’s No. 6 defense, yielding just 61.9 points a game.
Fousseyni Traore is 37 points away from becoming BYU’s 53rd player to surpass 1,000 points in a season, and Dallin Hall’s 146 assists is the 19th most in single-season history.
Wednesday calls for a big delivery from the Cougars. A win would go a long way to achieving a possible No. 4 seed at the league tournament, although they’d need some help. Right now, it looks like BYU will likely be the No. 5 seed in Kansas City.
If BYU makes 12 3-pointers, they’ll beat Iowa State.
In this piece, Dave McCann explains how and why this March feels so different with BYU’s basketball program.
Cougar Insider predictions
Question of the week: Turning to football, with all the emphasis on defensive recruiting this cycle, what is your opinion of Jay Hill’s side of the ball after a week of spring practice?
Jay Drew: As of this writing, media members have been able to watch about a half-hour combined of the three spring practices the Cougars have conducted. That was 15 minutes last Thursday and 15 minutes Monday. So the sample size is very limited.
But I’ve gotta say, the offense seems to be quite a bit ahead of the defense. Quarterbacks Gerry Bohanon, Jake Retzlaff and Cade Fennegan have looked fairly sharp against the D in the 11-on-11 work, and the star of camp to date has been freshman tight end Ryner Swanson.
It looks like it will take a while for defensive newcomers such as Jack Kelly (Weber State) and Marque Collins (Weber State) to find their footing. Monday marked the first day the Cougars were in pads, and Jay Hill said afterward that he was a bit disappointed in the defense’s physicality. But it is really, really early, and there’s still plenty of time for guys to get acclimated.
It should also be mentioned that several defensive stalwarts (Ben Bywater, Siale Esera) have yet to participate in spring drills and some might miss the entire camp as they recover from last season’s injuries/surgeries.
Dick Harmon: Jay Hill installed his defense last spring so when things rolled out last week the majority of the players knew exactly what was expected of them. In this regard, his defense is on a higher platform to begin 2024. What’s needed now is an infusion of talent. After Monday’s practice, Hill said he saw a lot of hot and cold in regards to physicality. Some of this could be due to facing experienced offensive players. It also might mean the new offensive line coach, TJ Wood, has elevated combat spirit on the opposite line.
No question not having Ben Bywater out there hurts, as does Siale Esera, who is recovering from an injury. Not having Max Tooley, Eddie Heckard and AJ Vongphachanh will take some work and media observation has been very limited.
Spring practice is all about teaching and adapting and I think the defense will be significantly responsive by practices seven and eight. Freshman Ephraim Asiata has been impressive and I believe the biggest improvement will be on the defensive line. Let’s see more of Weber State transfer Jack Kelly and then what happens when JC transfers Sani Tuala and Luke Toomalatai are plugged into the front seven to more fully evaluate the defense.
Hill said some of his best players on the field are newcomers.
Cougar tales
Some are calling it the best week of BYU basketball ever. Mark Pope’s team just defeated TCU at home after going into Allen Fieldhouse and knocking off Kansas. In these two wins, the Cougars came back from a combined 62 points down, which underscores how volatile it is for the Cougars to rely on the 3-point shot.
BYU baseball begins Big 12 play with the longest road trip possible to West Virginia. Read an update on the baseball trends here. In women’s gymnastics, BYU crossed the 197 threshold for the first time this season.
In this piece by McCann, Noah Hartsock recalls BYU’s comeback victory over Iona in the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
From the archives
From the X-verse
Extra points
- What Pope said about faith and BYU (Deseret News)
- Observations after 3 days of spring (KSL Sports)
- Analyzing NCAA bracketology, seeds (Cougs Daily)
Fanalyst
Comments from Deseret News readers:
Great good looking fans has helped surprising Cougars move into tie for fourth place in the Big 12.
Cougs have beaten more top ten teams than any other in the USA.
Go Cougs. -- This is Worf and I approve this message.
— Worf
This is a fun team to watch. Pope and staff have done a very good job with defense this year. Obviously the only area that needs dramatic improvement is the dribble drive for points. When BYU get to the paint with a drive and either scores or gets fouled they are a Sweet 16 or elite 8 team. However, they don’t do it enough and seem to have stretches of 3 point misery with no emphasis on driving for 2 points when their outside shots are not falling. Therefore they are susceptible to the Oklahoma States of the world and well they can beat a top 10 team with regularity they can lose to bad teams with the same consistency that usually keeps them out of the round of 32. Let’s hope they can put it all together this year!
— CoHawk
This is definitely the deepest BYU team I have seen in 40 years of following BYU men’s basketball. Most seasons I’m hoping none of the starters get into foul trouble because of the drop in quality beyond the starters. This year, if we’re off to a slow start, I find myself hoping Pope will go to the bench sooner than the regular rotation time. We get such a spark from Robinson, Saunders and Fouss. And there have been games when we get a spark from Atiki and Stewart as well. I really like how well Pope recognizes the hot hand(s) and “rides those horses.”
— CougFaninTX
Up next
- March 6 | 7 p.m. | Men’s basketball | Iowa State | @ Ames, Iowa
- March 7 | 12 p.m. | Women’s tennis | Kansas State | @ Provo
- March 7 | 1 p.m. | Baseball | West Virginia | @ Morgantown, West Virginia
- March 7 | 5 p.m. | Softball | Texas Tech | @ Provo
- March 8-9 | Track and field | Indoor Nationals | @ Boston
- March 8 | 5 p.m. | Men’s tennis | Air Force | @ Colorado Springs, Colorado
- March 8 | 4:30 p.m. | Women’s basketball | Kansas | Big 12 tournament | @ Kansas City, Missouri
- March 8 | 8 p.m. | Men’s volleyball | Stanford | @ Stanford, California
- March 9 | 11 a.m. | Women’s tennis | Oklahoma State | @ Provo
- March 9 | 11 a.m. | Baseball @ West Virginia | @ Morgantown, West Virginia
- March 9 | 12 p.m. | Softball | Texas Tech | @ Provo
- March 9 | 7 p.m. | Men’s basketball | Oklahoma State | @ Provo