Analysis: No. 23 BYU shifts gears in win over Utah, showing just how versatile this team really is

BYU first-year coach Kevin Young ended his first regular season as a college coach with an impressive display of team versatility, resilience and depth in an 85-74 win over arch-rival Utah Saturday night before a sold-out Marriott Center crowd.

Young’s team was outrebounded 53-34 and outshot from beyond the arc 12 to 8 in made 3s, but the Cougars’ stifling defense at crunch time, which led to 17 forced turnovers, made a big difference. BYU also held a 40-22 scoring advantage inside the paint.

“It was another game where we had a hard time finding our rhythm,” Young told a KSL Radio network audience. “But we came out the second half with Richie (Saunders) attacking the paint and it catapulted us to a big second half.”

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The win gave Young a tie with Roger Reid for the most home wins (15-2) by a first-year BYU coach and his No. 23-ranked Cougars will take a 23-8 (14-6) record into a double-bye No. 4 seed in the Big 12 Basketball Tournament in Kansas City Thursday.

Picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll, the Cougars tied Arizona for third place in the league standings and finish an impressive 13-8 in Quad 1 and 2 games. The Cougars play the winner of the No. 12 vs. No. 13 seed that survives one another to meet No. 5 seed Iowa State.

“I’m just proud of how our players have grown this season and for me this is the big takeaway. They trusted in what we were trying to get them to do,” said Young.

Dawson Baker’s 15 points played a key role in BYU’s win, the eighth straight for the Cougars. He made BYU’s first three from distance on a night the Cougars started 0 for 13 from downtown.

“Dawson is a guy who deserves more minutes. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it. For me the only thing that makes me feel a little bit better about him in particular is when he comes in, I go to him. We go to him, and try to call his number.”

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Baker answered as if on cue, delivering immediately with key points.

Saunders added 14 points and freshman Egor Demin led BYU early and finished with 10 points on 5-of-11 shooting with seven boards, six assists and just one turnover.

This game capped a remarkable season for the Cougars, who ended the regular season as perhaps the hottest team in the league heading to Kansas City.

Unlike the dominating rebounding and 3-point shooting effort in the double-overtime win over Iowa State in Ames, BYU struggled on the boards and from distance in the first half.

Utah took a 12-7 lead after 11 minutes, dominating the boards early, doubling up the Cougars on the glass, 18-9. When the Cougars went 0 for 13 from the 3-point line most of the first half, Utah nursed a small lead until Baker and Mihailo Boskovic dumped in a pair from beyond the arc. And when Dallin Hall made a 3 with a second left, the Cougars ended the first half up 34-30.

Saunders picked up two personal fouls in the first four minutes in that first half and spent eight minutes on the bench.

The first half emphasized just how critical BYU’s Big 12-leading 3-point shooting game is to the rest of Young’s strategy. Going just 3 of 18 for 15% from distance allowed Utah to hang around and toy with a lead in the Marriott Center. It also kept the crowd out of the game for much of the first 20 minutes.

After posting a 13-point lead on a Baker 3-point make, BYU led 54-41, but a Keba Keita rebound that he lost out of bounds started an 8-0 Utah run to cut the lead to five with 11:47 to play.

But this is where BYU found a different way to win.

Outrebounded and outshot from beyond the arc, the Cougar defense held Utah to more than five minutes without a bucket and raced to a 17-point lead at 68-51 with 6:63 remaining in the game.

A 3-point make by Mawot Mag, an offensive rebound putback by Keita, Saunders’ first 3-point make of the night followed by his driving layin, took the Cougars up 79-61 with 3:12 remaining.

“This game had a lot of emotion,” said senior Trevin Knell, who told BYU’s sports network he was so pumped up before the game he was shaking, “It was a roller-coaster type feeling.”

Knell said Young told the team at half that Utah was playing harder than they were and they needed to play for each other. The result was a 51-point second half.

“We couldn’t let it happen again (lose to Utah),” said Knell, “We’ve got to be the guy that punks them.”

This was evident in BYU’s big advantage in points scored in the paint.

The versatility in switching gears when the mainstay, like making bombs, isn’t working was on full display against Utah.

“This is where this team is different than the past teams I’ve played on. Here (we) find different ways to win with different schemes. We tried to get to the rim and make something else happen besides scoring in transition.”

Knell called Young a remarkable human being.

“He’s very genuine, very upfront ... that’s what I really admire about Coach Young. He’s very adaptable and humble. He’s always trying to learn the college route, always asking questions.”

After 29 turnovers in a win at Iowa State, the Cougars cut that to 10 against Utah.

“I’m so happy for our four seniors, that they were able to go out with a win like this,” said Young.