Whether it be 3-pointers, point-blank attempts near the rim, floaters from the key or even free throws, there has been an emphasis at BYU’s Marriott Center Annex the past few days on simply making shots.
The Cougars’ practices have been filled with that seemingly simple drill, after a failure to make shots from all over the court — including a woeful 12 of 21 effort from the charity stripe — led to BYU losing 72-67 to visiting Texas Tech on Tuesday.
Sure, there were other reasons why BYU dropped to 1-2 in Big 12 play at the hands of the Red Raiders, most notably poor defensive execution down the stretch, but shooting so poorly on their home floor was inexcusable, coach Kevin Young said after the game and again Thursday night during his coach’s show.
BYU was 5 of 23 (21.7%) from 3-point range, its worst performance from beyond the arc this season.
BYU-TCU basketball preview
Young said his confidence level that the Cougars can recover from such a poor shooting night is “extremely high” as BYU (10-4, 1-2) turns its attention to Saturday’s road game at TCU (noon MST, ESPN2).
The Frogs (8-6, 1-2) are also coming off a disappointing offensive game, a 65-46 loss at No. 12 Houston two nights after the red-wearing Cougars blasted BYU 86-55 at Fertitta Center.
“We got a team full of really good shooters. I think we started out 1 of 10 from 3 (vs. Texas Tech),” Young said. “I thought the first half we got wide open looks. They just didn’t go in. … Especially at home, to start 1 for 10 from 3, that was really disappointing. I thought we could have opened it up a lot more in the first half. But more than the 3-point shooting was the free-throw shooting. You gotta be able to knock free throws down in close games.”
BYU is shooting 35.4% from 3-point range, ranking 98th in the country (of 355 teams) in that category, which isn’t bad. TCU is one of the best teams in the country at defending the 3, however, ranking No. 20 by holding opponents to 28.5% shooting from deep.
Whichever team wins that battle within the battle Saturday at 8,500-seat Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, will probably emerge victorious.
“We gotta make shots. I mean, that is a huge part of any team. But with us, we are a pace and ball-movement type team, and with that you gotta be able to make shots,” Young said. “That is a huge part of it. And then on the road you gotta dig into details much more, which we have not done.
“This will be a really good opportunity to lick our wounds and have to go out there and do it the hard way on the road,” Young continued. “I got a locker room full of great guys that want to do the right thing, and I look forward to their response as we try to get the first one on the road.”
BYU basketball’s plan
BYU point guards Dallin Hall and Egor Demin combined to go 2 of 10 from 3-point range against Texas Tech, but only after Demin’s last-second attempt banged around the rim a couple of times and fell through the hoop.
Demin had missed his previous 21 3-point attempts dating back to a couple minutes remaining in regulation in the overtime loss to Ole Miss in San Diego.
Hall said the shots will eventually fall, but in the meantime the Cougars have to focus on what they can control — defense, rebounding, execution.
“That (poor shooting) is frustrating. Obviously we didn’t have a great shooting night. That’s outside of our control. But second chance points (are not),” Hall said. “I thought our bigs did an incredible job keeping their bigs off the glass. But us guards, we gotta be better helping them out. I think executing the defensive game plan (was lacking).”
BYU and TCU were once Mountain West conference foes, and BYU has dominated the series, posting a 20-3 all-time record against the Frogs.
BYU has won the past 17 matchups, including last year’s 87-75 win in Provo after TCU took a 17-point halftime lead.
TCU’s last win over BYU came in 1996-97 season when BYU went 1-25.
The last time BYU visited TCU, in 2011, the Frogs’ arena was known as Daniel-Meyer Coliseum and Jimmer Fredette scored 23 points for the No. 7 Cougars in a 79-56 romp. The facility underwent a $72 million renovation prior to the 2015-16 season and is now one of the toughest places to win in the Big 12.
The Frogs are 8-0 at home and 0-6 away from Schollmaier Arena so far this season. Their best win was a 76-72 win over Xavier in the Big East-Big 12 Battle.
Like BYU, TCU is searching for a go-to guy: Noah Reynolds leads them in scoring with an 11.8 average. Guard Frankie Collins, who was second in scoring with an 11.2 average, sustained a fractured foot in mid-December and is out for the season.
TCU’s NET ranking on Friday morning was No. 74, meaning that this will be a Quad 1 win for the Cougars if they can pull it off. Road wins over teams ranked No. 75 or better are considered Quad 1 wins.
BYU’s NET ranking is 47. The Cougars aren’t even “on the bubble” in Joe Lunardi’s bracketology projections for the 2025 NCAA Tournament after their second-straight 1-2 conference start.
“You know, our guys are hungry. Our guys, they want to go out there and obviously play well, play better. I think individually there are guys who are disappointed in the way they have played the last couple games, and obviously collectively we haven’t been able to get done what we would like,” Young said on his coach’s show. “So obviously this opportunity against a well-coached TCU team to go on the road … and get a win.”