What Kevin Young and his players said about Marriott Center atmosphere for BYU’s preseason exhibition

The immense excitement for BYU basketball among Cougar fans has finally spilled into the Marriott Center.

When Kevin Young’s new-look squad took care of business against Division II Colorado Christian Wednesday night, it did so in front of an announced crowd of 16,323 — an absurd amount of spectators for a preseason exhibition game.

For comparison, Wednesday’s attendance featured more fans than 10 of BYU’s 18 contests in Provo a season ago. Clearly the “KYU” effect is real.

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However, the Cougars’ first-year head coach was far from surprised by the impressive Marriott Center turnout. In fact, he “expected it.”

“I mean, this place is special,” Young told reporters following BYU’s 93-49 win. “To see that many people in here for an exhibition game, I thought it was awesome.”

Tickets for the ROC student section sold out within an hour of becoming available. When the game’s first play — an alley-oop pass from Egor Demin to Kanon Catchings for a slam dunk — resulted in a thunderous arena eruption, it became clear that the night was going to feel much more similar to the postseason than the preseason.

“You don’t really get exhibition games like this where it’s packed,” Cougars guard Dawson Baker said. “Shoutout to Cougar Nation and the ROC. They made tonight feel really special.”

While there were plenty of highlights on the court — Catchings scored 19 points, Demin dished out 11 assists and the team shot a collective 50% from 3-point range — activities in the stands proved just as exciting, as a Cougar Tail eating contest went down to the wire and BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff received a rapturous ovation upon being shown on the video board.

“There is a lot of excitement with BYU athletics in general,” Young said. “The football team is killing it, and I’m happy for those guys. It was cool that Jake was in the building tonight.”

The hype surrounding hoops at BYU skyrocketed upon hiring Young just over six months ago, with the accomplished NBA assistant-turned-Cougars-coach fanning the fan base’s flames with major recruiting success that may get even better over the coming weeks. The basketball buzz is palpable, and the players definitely feel it too.

“Stepping out there, looking up and seeing the whole ROC full, that’s awesome,” forward Richie Saunders said. “People should be excited for what’s coming this year. It’s such a cool thing to step on this floor and play when this place is buzzing.”

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