As a player and a coach, Cincinnati’s Wes Miller has never seen anything quite like it.
In the second half of Saturday’s Big 12 showdown in front of 17,483 at the Marriott Center, BYU simply rained 3-pointers down on the Bearcats.
Egor Demin, Richie Saunders, Trevin Knell, Kanon Catchings, Dawson Baker and even freshman Elijah Crawford — who broke the unwritten rule of firing off a shot with a big lead and the shot clock off at the end of the game — nailed triples in the second half as BYU blew out visiting Cincinnati 80-52 to even its league record at 4-4.
BYU was 11 of 15 (73.3%) from deep in the second half and 15 of 24 for the game, to leave Miller simply shrugging his shoulder in the postgame news conference.
“Their shooting performance in the second half was difficult for us to deal with,” Miller, 41, said. “I thought we made some errors, spotted them some easy baskets, but they also made some difficult shots. … So give them credit.
“I don’t think I have ever coached in a game where someone went 11 for 15 from 3 on a team. I don’t know if I have ever been a part of that. … You can play terrible defense and people don’t go 11 for 15.”
Fifteen is the most 3s Cincy has given up all season, passing the 12 it gave up to Texas Tech last Tuesday in an 81-71 loss to the Red Raiders.
It was a far cry from last year, when Cincinnati surprised BYU in the first Big 12 game for both programs and forced the Cougars into 13 of 46 shooting from beyond the arc.
Demin was the biggest breakout star for the Cougars Saturday(13-6, 4-4), going 3 of 5 from 3 and 6 of 7 from the free-throw line in arguably his best Big 12 game to date.
“If they shoot it like that, and Demin shoots it like that, they are going to be pretty hard to beat. It doesn’t matter who they play,” Miller said.
With Demin and fellow freshman Kanon Catchings, who was 3 of 4 from deep, having their best games in quite some time, the Cougars still got 21 from old reliable — Saunders — to win going away.
Saunders was 5 of 7 from long range.
BYU coach Kevin Young said the entire team’s confidence is growing — in themselves, each other and the coaching staff.
“Obviously it is easier on a night like tonight when the ball goes in,” he said. “Make shots, right? That is what it is all about, and I know that sounds simple, but everything is easier when you make shots.”
Shots that weren’t falling during the three-game losing skid earlier in the month are going in with regularity. Reserve guard Dawson Baker added 11 points on 5 of 7 shooting as the Cougars shot 57.1% from the field against one of the best defensive teams in the Big 12, if not the country.
“He wakes up thinking no one can guard him,” Young said of Baker. “That’s why I love him. I hope my kids have that swagger, honestly. I love that about him. He has been a guy who has been extremely efficient.”
Like they did against Colorado four nights previous, the Cougars came out of halftime Saturday firing on all cylinders. Demin and Saunders hit 3-pointers and BYU quickly pushed a 28-23 lead at the break to 38-26 with 18:00 remaining.
The Cougars kept their foot on the pedal from there, as Saunders stayed hot to make himself a viable candidate for Big 12 Player of the Week honors, having poured in 25 against the Buffaloes Tuesday in Boulder.
But the junior from Riverton by way of Wasatch Academy was more impressed with his team’s defensive rebounding after giving up 10 offensive boards to Cincy in the first half, which the Bearcats used to score seven second-chance points and keep it close.
“They came out and just hit us with 10 (offensive rebounds) in the first half,” Saunders said. “Holding them to three in the second half was big for us. When we can get stops on the other end, it really just fuels our offense. That was the moral of the story.”
The worst 3-point shooting team in the Big 12, Cincinnati was 3 of 15 from deep in the first half and 2 of 13 in the second half, but the score was tied at 23-23 with 1:04 left in the half when Simas Lukosius hit a 3-pointer.
The Cougars squandered lots of chances to blow it open in the first half and went six straight possessions without scoring before Demin got going and scored the half’s final five points.
“I think a lot of people was thinking I was in bad shape lately,” Demin said. “But yeah, I am feeling better and better game to game. Today, I was enjoying playing here.”
Young said his “main takeaway” from the game was how BYU controlled the glass in the second half, finishing ahead 34-28 in the rebounding battle.
“That is all we talked about at halftime,” he said, noting that coaches showed the team video clips of all of Cincinnati’s offensive rebounds. “That is how you get 52-29 (scoring) in the second half, by out rebounding them.”
As for the end of the game, at least one Cincinnati assistant coach took issue with Crawford taking the 3-pointer in the final seconds when it appeared the Cougars were just running out the clock.
Miller did not mention it in his postgame news conference, but Young apologized before saying anything else about the game.
“I am not entirely sure what happened at the end there. I think Elijah shot the ball before the buzzer went off, which is not something we are about, so if that was the case, I apologize to Wes and their group,” Young said. “We try to operate in a classier manner than that, so apologies there.”