After scoring a game-high 22 points on 9 of 16 shooting, Kansas State guard Dug McDaniel had some interesting things to say following the Wildcats’ 80-65 loss at BYU on Saturday night.
“I feel like they were more ready than us,” said the 5-foot-11 McDaniel, who transferred to K-State last April after two seasons at Michigan. “I feel like we needed that game … to humble ourselves. From the jump, it just felt like they just wanted it more.”
The task for BYU (17-8, 8-6) now will be to carry that same desire, that same want-to, into Tuesday’s long-awaited showdown with college basketball blue blood Kansas.
The Cougars can’t afford to ease off the gas pedal just because the Jayhawks (17-8, 8-6) are not your grandfather’s Jayhawks. Heck, they aren’t even your older brother’s Jayhawks.
Kansas is tumbling a bit in the college basketball world, the most recent evidence of that being a 74-67 loss to Utah (14-11, 6-8) on Saturday night an hour or so after BYU cruised past K-State.
BYU, Kansas and Baylor are now tied for fifth place in the Big 12 standings, while Utah is tied for 10th with West Virginia, so Kansas’ visit Tuesday (7 p.m., ESPN) is still very significant but has lost some of its luster.
Before the season started, when Kansas was picked to win the Big 12 and the Cougars were picked to finish ninth, this looked like a game to circle on the calendar, especially considering that BYU surprised KU 76-68 last year at historic Phog Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence.
One of Saturday night’s heroes, junior point guard Dallin Hall, said the Cougars will be “super excited” nevertheless, because Kansas is still “a great team” from “a prestigious school.”
Hall, of course, delivered the dagger last year to upset the Jayhawks, a stepback 3-pointer over the outstretched arms of Kansas 7-footer Hunter Dickinson.
Hall said coach Bill Self’s squad would be an angry and focused team, even before it was learned that Kansas had lost to the Utes. Utah, a surprise team itself after having been picked to finish last (16th) in the Big 12, will host Kansas State on Monday as the Beehive State schools swap opponents like they used to do back when both were members of the Mountain West and Western Athletic conferences.
“It is just an excellent opportunity for us to go out and put our best foot forward. So obviously we went into their place, took it last year. They are hungry this year, but we have a lot to prove, and we are playing a great brand of basketball right now, so we are really excited for the opportunity,” Hall said.
“We are going to celebrate this one tonight and come back Monday focused and ready to attack that team.”
In cooling off previously red-hot Kansas State, which had won six straight, BYU unleashed its depth in the post and prowess in the paint to offset a mediocre night from the 3-point line.
The Cougars were just 6 of 23 from deep but went 21 of 32 from 2-point range to win going away. The team known for its shooting ability is getting better and better inside, as 40 points in the paint would suggest.
What coach Kevin Young calls his “3-headed monster” of Keba Keita, Fouss Traore and Mihailo Boskovic at the five (center) position combined for 22 points and 16 rebounds.
Keita blocked five shots and Traore one.
“I thought all three of our five men played really well in their respective roles,” said Young, who used the 6-foot-10 Boskovic for more than 15 minutes in the game, mostly down the stretch, because K-State was playing small ball and he wanted to match that quickness on the perimeter.
“The thing I like about our whole team, the end of second half I go with Mihailo because they were doing a different scheme and (Keita) is over there cheering on Mihailo,” Young said. “Really, that is not normal. We all want to win, but sometimes it is hard to have joy for somebody else, so shoutout to him as well.”
It will be interesting to see how BYU matches up with the 7-foot-2 Dickinson, who had 12 points and seven rebounds in 29 minutes against Utah. Zeke Mayo had 15 points and Dajuan Harris added 14.
Part of the reason why BYU was able to beat West Virginia and Kansas State in back-to-back games was that the Cougars slowed both teams’ top weapons, WVU’s Javon Smalls and KSU’s Coleman Hawkins.
The Cougars appeared to be more prepared than their counterparts, as McDaniel noted.
“Shoutout to our coaching staff (for that),” Young said. “Our guys were able to execute their game plan.”
Young said he didn’t plan on having 10- and 11-man rotations this year, but BYU has morphed into that kind of team because of so much depth, and also because of maturity.
So far, guys are handling their reduced minutes with poise and class.
“I have been around coaching long enough to know that is not normal to have a team that is committed to winning, whatever it takes,” Young said. “I am proud of our guys for being mature about that.”
Noted Hall, who logged 24 minutes and played arguably his best Big 12 game since last year: “I think we have mastered the ‘next man up’ mentality. … I think everyone does a great job of just stepping up and filling their role and living up to the moment.”
Cougars on the air
No. 17 Kansas (17-8, 8-6) at BYU (17-8, 8-6)
Tuesday, 7 p.m. MST
At the Marriott Center
Provo, Utah
TV: ESPN
Radio: BYU Radio 107.9 FM/BYURadio.org/BYU Radio app