Are the unranked BYU Cougars that good, or are the No. 23 (and falling) Kansas Jayhawks that bad?
After the former crushed the latter 91-57 at the sold-out and rollicking Marriott Center on Tuesday night in Provo, that’s the question that echoed from coast to coast, particularly among those who vote in power polls and, perhaps, those who decide which teams will play in the NCAA Tournament in March.
As the Deseret News predicted Tuesday night, the national narrative mostly focused on Kansas’ precipitous plunge from preseason No. 1 to Big 12 also-ran. That’s to be expected, as Kansas is a blue blood, and BYU is not.
Not yet, anyway.
“The fact that there is not a number (ranking) next to BYU’s name is, frankly, dumb, because that’s a really good team,” said ESPN “Sports Center” host Scott Van Pelt before interviewing BYU coach Kevin Young after the Cougars handed Kansas its worst loss since a 37-point setback to Kentucky in 1974.
To be fair, Young has been saying he has a “really good team” on his hands since last summer. He said that after BYU lost by a point in overtime to rival Utah to drop to 2-4 in Big 12 play. He said it again when BYU was smoked at home by Arizona and lost 84-66 at Cincinnati after having pounded the Bearcats two weeks prior 80-52 in Provo.
Since then, BYU (18-8, 9-6) has reeled off three impressive wins, outscoring the Kansas schools by 49 points in the last two after edging past West Virginia 73-69 in Morgantown.
Are the Cougars legit?
More will be known after the upcoming road trip to Arizona (Saturday) and Arizona State (Wednesday), but for now Young’s crew appears to be safely in the running to punch its ticket to the Big Dance. The Cougars rose to No. 31 in both the NET rankings and Kenpom.com, and now have four Quad 1 wins.
Perhaps more importantly, they’ve all bought into what Young has been preaching all season — that they are just as talented as most of the teams in their conference, if not all of them.
“We are playing for each other, and we are really turning the corner at the right time,” said graduate Trevin Knell, who passed the 1,000-point scoring mark with a 3-pointer 26 seconds into the eventual beatdown. “This was a great team win, and I feel like it was a statement win.”
BYU has now picked up four Quad 1 wins in the past three weeks. With Arizona at No. 9 in the NET and ASU at No. 66, the next two outings for the Cougars represent Quad 1 opportunities, too. Saturday’s game at McKale Center, also scheduled to be televised by ESPN (8 p.m. MST), is huge as BYU tries to make amends for that 85-74 loss in the Marriott Center on Feb. 4.
“I feel like this (win over Kansas) was a continuation of the past couple of games. I feel like this was another team win that we are stacking,” Knell said. “Every day in practice we are competing, and it is really just showing out on the court. The trust that we have, the intensity we are playing with, both on the offensive end and defensive end, is really showing.”
A sign that they are as connected offensively as any team in the country right now came in the first half, as the Cougars recorded assists on all 15 of their made field goals.
“It was really a credit to our team for the attention to detail on the game plan. This three-game span that we have been on has been by far our most-dialed-in stretch of the year as it relates to focusing on what we are trying to do with the game plan,” Young said. “We are starting to see a lot of benefit of that.”
Will it travel to Tucson?
That’s the challenge that lies ahead, as McKale Center (capacity: 14,545) can get almost as loud and raucous as the Marriott Center. The Cougars’ performances on the road have been hit and miss — wins at UCF, Colorado and West Virginia, but blowout losses at Houston and Cincinnati and, of course, that gut-punch up on the Hill.
Young said he’s been most impressed by his team’s resiliency, and ability to quickly move past devastating losses and euphoric wins.
“I have said this most of this whole season: We really have had very few bad days,” Young said. “… Just stack one day after the next and when you get to the later part of the year it all starts to add up. So I think it is a residual effect of that.
“Really proud of our team for being mature and being able to handle the deeper rotation and having joy for their teammates when they are not the one that is actually out there doing it. A combination of all that has really got the guys in a good place.”
And it isn’t just on offense. Defensively, the Cougars have improved, as Young has given more minutes to defensive specialists such as Mawot Mag and Trey Stewart and been willing to go to newcomer Mihailo Boskovic at the five when opponents try to spread them out.
Young said he can’t remember seeing a team have 10 different players record a steal, as the Cougars did Tuesday in racking up 14 against the Jayhawks.
Speaking of defense, Young said that’s why freshman Kanon Catchings only logged 2 minutes, 9 seconds on Tuesday and didn’t even get into the game in garbage time.
“He was available. He came in, there were a couple things defensively that didn’t go his way. I thought Trey was giving us good energy, so I just decided to go there,” Young said. “But Kanon has helped us win a lot of games. He is a guy that can really score the ball. So he is just continuing to learn and continuing to put in work and he will be ready to go.”
Regarding BYU’s resurgence — the Cougars have won seven of their last nine games — Young said it was just a “good night all around” for his team.
“We kinda let the world know what we got cooking here,” he said.
So the secret is kind of out, at least in the coach’s mind. But momentum can be a fickle mistress in college basketball, as BYU learned after its four-game winning streak in late January and on Feb. 1 at UCF.
“I know what the deal is. I know we needed to get a win against a notable opponent. We gotta continue to do that. This was a big game for the league standings as well. And hopefully (it helped),” Young said, after the Cougars moved into sole possession of fifth place in the Big 12.
“Honestly, I am still learning (about) the selection committee and this and that and the other,” he continued. “I just know this: Just win the game, and there are good things that happen because of it. It is cool to be on ESPN and have people watch what we are doing. Hopefully the people take note that need to take note.”
