The past few months have been halcyon days for BYU sports, as men’s and women’s cross-country teams claimed national championships in November and the football team demolished Colorado 36-14 last Saturday in the Alamo Bowl to complete an overwhelmingly successful season.
New BYU men’s basketball coach Kevin Young has noticed.
So as Young’s team, which went a respectable 9-2 in nonconference play, prepares to begin the Big 12 portion of its schedule Tuesday with a matinee affair against 9-2 Arizona State at the Marriott Center (2 p.m. MST, ESPN2), the newcomer realizes the importance of keeping the positive vibes going.
“I am just happy to be a part of it. It is exciting. I am hoping that we can kinda carry the torch now that football is over and we can kinda keep this momentum going,” Young told reporters Monday in a video teleconference.
Young has described himself as a “huge college football fan” in the past and called the bowl win “super impressive.” He said BYU football coach Kalani Sitake has done “an amazing job” with the football team, winning six more games this year than last.
“There are a lot of cool things happening at this university. And it is a credit to Tom (Holmoe) and Brian (Santiago) and president (Shane) Reese and Keith (Vorkink) and everyone,” Young said. “The leadership team here that has put together a really outstanding athletic department to go along with a really outstanding university.”
“There are a lot of cool things happening at this university.”
— First-year BYU basketball coach Kevin Young
Keeping the mojo going won’t be easy in the Big 12 basketball race, which is arguably tougher to win than the Big 12 football race, especially now that Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado have joined the conference.
Arizona State was expected to be down a bit in 2024-25, but coach Bobby Hurley has retooled his roster, almost like everyone else in college basketball, with positive results. It is nothing like the team BYU pummeled 77-49 last year in Las Vegas. Freshman- and transfer-led ASU is coming off a 78-62 walloping of UMass on Dec. 21 in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The Sun Devils’ only losses were 83-66 to No. 9 Florida and 88-80 to No. 6 Gonzaga. Arizona State’s best wins are New Mexico (85-82), Saint Mary’s (68-64) and Grand Canyon (87-76). BYU’s NET ranking is No. 45, while ASU’s is No. 51.
Young said while he was growing up in the Atlanta area he never looked up to the former Duke standout Hurley because he “was never a big Duke guy,” and never really met him while they both coached in the Valley of the Sun — Young as an assistant with the Phoenix Suns — but has a lot of respect for what Hurley has got going at ASU.
“He clearly knows what he is doing, gets his guys to play really hard. So just a lot of respect for the start that they have had. They have beaten some really quality opponents,” Young said. “And they feed off of his energy, I am sure. Just looking forward for us to compete against a high level opponent.”
Five Sun Devils are averaging in double figures, led by 6-foot-5 freshman guard Joson Sanon (14.0 ppg.) and senior Basheer Jihad (13.9), a Ball State transfer who had 20 points in the win over the Minutemen.
Another ASU freshman, 6-9 forward Jayden Quaintance, is averaging 9.4 points and 8.3 rebounds. Young said Quaintance’s defense reminds him of NBA all-star Draymond Green, “where he is a one-man wrecking crew out there” for the defensive-minded Devils.
“Those young guys are really talented. I am pretty familiar with both of them,” Young said. “Joson can really score the ball. He is a guy that is extremely efficient — one of the most efficient shooters in college basketball to start the season. He can go off for 30 (points) on any given night. So we will have to pay a lot of attention to him.”
On the BYU side, Young said freshman point guard Egor Demin and junior wing Richie Saunders are both expected to play “barring anything foreseen” after Demin has been out of action with a knee contusion since the 83-64 loss to Providence on Dec. 3 and Saunders has been out since suffering a concussion against Wyoming on Dec. 14.
“They have been able to practice quite a bit. They look good. Still monitoring those guys to make sure everything checks out,” Young said. “I wish we could have played even more, honestly, to get those guys more run. But I know they are both eager and ready to get back out there with their teammates.”
BYU hasn’t played since drubbing Florida A&M 103-57 on Dec. 20, a break it needed to get Demin, Saunders and a few other guys healed up and provide some “mental clarity” after a fairly light nonconference schedule he inherited that Young wishes would have been more difficult.
“It was good for those guys to get additional rest. … And come back with a sense of urgency for this push here in conference play, and just more on the mental side is where we gained an edge,” he said.
With students on their holiday break, playing a midweek game at 2 p.m. on New Year’s Eve doesn’t seem like an optimal day or time to start Big 12 play, but Young isn’t complaining. BYU plays at ASU on Feb. 26, a Wednesday.
“We are looking forward to it. I don’t put a lot of stock into home and road. I know the records and history would say otherwise, but I think it is just a mentality,” Young said. “Whether there is one fan, no fans, a thousand fans, 10,000 fans, 17,000 fans, home, road, whatever, you gotta go out there and execute,” he said.
“I like the fact that we have had day games, night games, early games, midday games, home games, road games, whatever the case may be. I think it is really good preparation,” he continued. “It just so happens that our Big 12 opener falls midday on a non-school day. But I have a sneaky suspicion that the crowd will still be pretty good.”
