‘We have found a good groove’: First 3-game Big 12 winning streak has BYU back on NCAA Tournament bubble

Lost in the euphoria over freshman Kanon Catchings’ breakout game and BYU’s wild 93-89 overtime win over a shorthanded, but still very potent and capable, Baylor basketball team on Tuesday night was the fact that the Cougars picked up their first Quad 1 victory of the 2024-25 season.

Also, the Cougars (14-6, 5-4) have now won three straight Big 12 games for the first time, and have seemingly put that ugly three-game losing streak with which they started January and that gut-busting loss to rival Utah in their rearview mirror.

The late-January success hasn’t moved BYU back into the NCAA Tournament picture, but it appears the Cougars have crawled onto the bubble with a NET ranking of 36 and a Kenpom.com rating of 31.

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On Wednesday, as BYU fans were still trying to process all that happened in front of 17,297 at the Marriott Center the night before, including a visit from MMA fighter Conor McGregor, of all people, their team leaped off the canvas and into ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi’s NCAA Tournament projections — known as Bracketology.

Lunardi now has BYU among his “First Four Out,” slotting them as the third team out if the season were to end today, behind fellow bubble-dwellers Xavier and VCU. And with their next four games all potential Quad 1 opportunities, beginning Saturday at UCF (2 p.m. MST, ESPN+), the Cougars’ Big Dance destiny is back in their own hands.

Central Florida (4-5, 13-7) is among Lunardi’s “Last Four In” and almost won at No. 11 Kansas on Tuesday night, falling 91-87 after leading most of the game. Remarkably, Kansas pummeled UCF 99-48 in Orlando on Jan. 5, but the Knights have been on an upward trajectory since then. And they certainly will be ready for BYU, having lost three close games to the Cougars last year, including a 63-58 setback at 9,500-seat Addition Financial Arena.

UCF is No. 62 in the NET and No. 59 in Kenpom.com, but has three of those all-important Quad 1 wins.

Meanwhile, the Cougars have been injected with a much-needed dose of confidence after winning a nail-biter at home. Their next hurdle is to win a close game on the road, after falling short at TCU and Utah and against No. 23 Ole Miss in overtime in a neutral-site game in San Diego.

“I think we are just ultra-focused right now. We have found a good groove. It helps when you win, where you can really kinda sink your feet into some things,” said junior guard Dawson Baker, who sank two free throws with 6.3 seconds remaining in overtime to seal the Cougars’ second-straight win over Baylor.

“Guys are really excited now, being in the gym,” Baker continued. “We are just locked into the next assignment, and we have a lot of guys who are workhorses. … When you have that (culture of working hard), there is no option of thinking maybe I should take today off.”

BYU was 21 of 25 from the free-throw line, which tied a season-high in charity stripe makes and meant a lot in a razor-close game. The Cougars were 32 of 58 from the field (55.2%) and have won 24 straight games when shooting 50% or better.

BYU’s bench scored a season-high 45 points.

“I think our confidence is growing as a group, and I have said this before: We really haven’t waned. Houston kicked our butt. Every other game we have had a chance to win, in league play, that is,” said BYU coach Kevin Young. “So our guys haven’t waned. I think their ability to stack good days in practice, and now three wins in a row, gives them great confidence.

“I told them in the locker room we should expect to beat good teams, because we are a good team,” Young continued. “We have kinda had that mantra since I have gotten here. I am not sure our guys at first believed it. But I think the more we go, they are gaining confidence in that.”

If Catchings can continue his upward trend, after getting benched five games ago, BYU can make some noise in February, and perhaps March. The 6-foot-9 wing became the first BYU freshman this century to go 8 of 8 or better from the field, 4 of 4 or better from 3-point range, and 3 of 3 or better from the free-throw line in a single game.

He scored the most points by a BYU freshman on a perfect shooting night in school history. Catchings was subbed out with 3:44 remaining in regulation and brought back with four seconds left to help run the regulation-ending play in which Dallin Hall made a 3-pointer a tick or two too late to have it count.

Catchings didn’t play in overtime, but he understood why and didn’t seem too upset about it in his postgame interviews. Young said he wanted to go with better defenders and more experienced players in crunch time.

Baker, Hall and Trevin Knell made big plays in overtime as BYU outscored Baylor 15-11 in the extra session.

“We do have (good) depth. I think it is one of our (strengths). It is something that is honestly a blessing and a curse, in some ways,” Young said. “As fast as we want to play, I think we can wear teams down. Which I think we wore teams down in these last three wins. So having guys on the bench who accept their roles and come in and produce is not easy. I am sure they all want to play 40 minutes.”

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