Despite seeing his team suffer its fourth-straight road loss and fourth overall loss in five games Saturday night at the Huntsman Center against Utah, BYU basketball coach Kevin Young on Monday doubled down on his confidence level in the struggling Cougars.
“I think (there) is a lot of responsibility on me to not overreact, but not underreact, and try to find that balance of what buttons I need to push to just kind of get us over the hump.”
— BYU coach Kevin Young
In his weekly press briefing ahead of Tuesday’s Big 12 road game (9 p.m. MST, ESPNU), Young said that BYU (11-6, 2-4) is not that far away from having a winning conference record.
“We feel like we are right there,” Young said. “… We have come up short too much. I think the fact that we are in all these games — we have given ourselves a chance to win all these games — should give our guys confidence.”

The Cougars were overmatched in blowout losses at Providence and Houston; in their four other losses — to Ole Miss, Texas Tech, TCU and Utah — they were a play or two away from victory. That was Young’s message to his team as it reconvened Monday to practice and then fly to Boulder.
“I think we have had a great sense of urgency. I don’t think that has been something where we have fallen short,” Young said. “When losses stack up things naturally get a little bit tighter. I want our guys to know how confident we are in them.”
Young referenced the parity in the Big 12, and how close a lot of the games have been throughout the league, as evidence that BYU is not totally outclassed, despite it currently being in a three-way tie for 11th place with Cincinnati and Oklahoma State.
“There is a lot of parity in what is going on, and we are in the thick of it. We gotta just find a way to string some (wins) together and put ourselves in position (to contend),” he said. “Because of all the things I just said, I think our guys should have confidence in that, and I think that allows them to play not uptight.”
The Cougars certainly looked uptight against the Utes, going 4 of 10 from the free-throw line and 30 of 78 (38.4%) from the field. Utah has a decent rim-protector in Lawson Lovering, who was able to alter some shots and block three, but the Cougars missed a lot of bunnies at the rim, even while outscoring the Utes 42-38 in the paint.
Having started Rutgers transfer Mawot Mag in place of struggling freshman Kanon Catchings the past two games, Young didn’t rule out more changes as he continues to search for the right combinations to right the ship.
“You know, everything is on the table. I think, me as a head coach, I am having to toe the line of “we are right there, we are several made baskets away from having a different conference record” (with making changes),” Young said. “So I think (there) is a lot of responsibility on me to not overreact, but not underreact, and try to find that balance of what buttons I need to push to just kind of get us over the hump.”
Young also doubled down on some of the comments he made in both his postgame news conference and to the BYU Sports Radio Network about the “head-scratching” calls at the end of the game.
“Look, I am not here to (make excuses). I am not one of these guys that blames officiating on winning and losing. You know? It happens in every game: good calls, bad calls,” he said. “I thought the foul on (Hunter) Erickson (of Utah), I didn’t think it was a foul. And I thought Dawson (Baker) got fouled on the last play. Simple as that. I don’t think there was any (ill) intent on any of the officials’ part. I just thought that’s the way it went, and that was unfortunate.”
Baker was charged with fouling Erickson with 13.2 seconds remaining, and the former Cougar made both free throws to give Utah a 73-72 lead after he had missed everything on his previous free throw, with 47 seconds left.
BYU got a second chance after the Baker miss, and no call, with 6.2 seconds remaining in overtime because the rebound was knocked out of bounds by Utah. But Trevin Knell missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity.
Young also mentioned Monday that a technical foul assessed to Mag less than 90 seconds into the game for apparently saying something to Utah’s bench after he made a 3-pointer was “a little head-scratching” as well. Dallin Hall replaced Mag on the floor after Gabe Madsen made one of two technical free throws.
Veterans Tony Padilla, Randy McCall and Jason Garretson officiated the game.
“Well, first of all, the ref said he didn’t even know what (Mag) even said to the (Utah) bench, but he still got a technical,” Young said.
Like BYU, Colorado (9-8, 0-6) is also desperate for a win, having lost six straight. The Buffaloes are still searching for their first league win and coming off an 83-73 loss at Oklahoma State on Saturday.
Young said the 9 p.m. MST tipoff time is “about as late” as he can remember starting a basketball game, but the Cougars will adjust and it could be a blessing in disguise to prepare them for the postseason — which at this point is looking sketchy.
“They have talent. They haven’t been able to string anything together in the league. I think it just speaks to how good our league is,” Young said. “… They are going to have a major sense of urgency, especially being at home. So we are approaching it just like any other road game, or conference game, regardless of the fact that they have come up short so far.”