Analysis: No. 9 BYU rides hot start, career night from Keba Keita for 31-point victory over Cal Baptist

Across the first month of the regular season, BYU has been prone to somewhat underwhelming first half showings, banking on late surges to pull out victories.

The Cougars had trailed at halftime in four of their seven November contests, including each of their Thanksgiving week matchups at the ESPN Events Invitational in Florida.

But No. 9-ranked BYU finally figured out how to get things going right out the gate again Wednesday night against Cal Baptist, as a 15-4 Cougars opening run snowballed into an eventual 90-61 victory at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

“It’s something that we talked about for this game,” BYU head coach Kevin Young told reporters of the strong start. “You know, obviously we played really well, but look, I mean, that’s a (Cal Baptist) team that you look at the NET, and they’re rated higher (72) than some of the teams we’ve played.

“We’ve had a tough schedule, they’ve beat some good teams, and so we certainly weren’t going to take them lightly. I challenged the starters to really try to set the tone early for us.”

BYU led by 16 points at halftime, shooting 51.4% in the first half before truly stepping on the gas to pour in 49 more points in the latter frame on 60% shooting.

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“Honestly, it felt good, Coach was big on (starting fast) coming into the game,” said AJ Dybantsa, who had 12 points in the first eight minutes of play. “He wanted us to throw the first punch and try to compete in the first 10 minutes of the game.”

While Dybantsa dazzled to the tune of 22 points, five rebounds and five assists, the story of the night came from Cougars big man Keba Keita, who flat-out dominated with 22 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks across just 19 minutes in what was likely his best performance since transferring to Provo.

“He’s had a little bit of a rough go because he’s had some injuries, and even just talking to me this morning at shoot around, he’s still kind of finding his wind out there,” Young said of Keita. “But you know, teams have to make decisions on how they want to guard us, that team statistically kind of lets the 3-point line paralyze them a little bit, so Keba was open a lot in and around the paint because there was more space in there.

“I thought our guys did a great job of finding him. We put a lot of emphasis on that coming into this game, but he was phenomenal.”

Sometimes overshadowed by the flashiness of Dybantsa, Rob Wright III or Richie Saunders, Keita has clearly improved significantly from last season, proving ultra valuable to this year’s BYU squad with his consistent paint scoring and excellent rim protection and rebounding.

When removing his eight-minute appearance against UConn, where he left early with a head injury, Keita is averaging 8.6 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game — exactly what the Cougars need out of that center spot to complement their perimeter and isolation attack.

“... He was just an animal out there tonight, and it was good to see him getting rewarded because he does so much dirty work for everyone else,” Young said.

In all, BYU shot 55.4% from the field and 39.1% from 3-point range, dishing out a team-high 22 assists and scoring a blistering 1.38 points per possession.

Defensively, the Cougars held Cal Baptist to 33.3% shooting with 14 turnovers, as the Lancers scored about 15 points less than their previous season average.

Cal Baptist’s Dominique Daniels Jr., typically a near-20 points per game scorer, managed just nine points on 3 of 11 shooting with Kennard Davis Jr. defending him.

“I thought Moo (Davis) was tremendous on Daniels, that’s a Player of the Year type of guy in their league, and Moo and everyone else made it really hard on him,” Young said.

Keita wasn’t the only Cougars player with a double-double, as Wright posted 15 points with 11 assists at point guard, hitting three 3-pointers and swiping three steals.

While Saunders took just six shots on the night, he did end up with 12 points, five rebounds and four steals, as his trademark hustle and grit helped set the overall tone for BYU.

“I just think his intensity ... his leadership as well, I think he’s really grown in that area,” Young said of Saunders. “I’ve challenged him after some of our early games to just be more vocal, you know, it’s not natural for him, but we need it from him. I thought tonight that showed up for sure.

“... If you’re playing next to that guy and you’re not playing hard, then you got something wrong with you.”

In addition to his strong defensive effort, Davis scored 11 points with three made triples.

As for BYU’s bench, Mihailo Boskovic led the charge with five points, a 3-pointer and two blocks, while Khadim Mboup added six rebounds.

With the win, the Cougars move to 7-1 on the season and 3-0 on the Delta Center floor, if you count their preseason victory over UNC.

“You guys know it’s no secret, I love the NBA,” Young said. “We talk about it all the time with our players, we have NBA guys on our team, and it’s just a matter of time until they’re playing in these arenas for real. So, anytime we can play on an NBA court, I’m all for it.”

BYU will now enjoy six days off before heading east to face ACC foe Clemson at Madison Square Garden in New York City as part of the famed Jimmy V Classic.

“I haven’t spent a ton of time studying (Clemson), to be honest with you. We’ve had our hands full with all these other teams,” Young said. “But I know historically they’re big, strong. They got a couple guys with Utah ties on their team that we’re familiar with. So I look forward to diving into the tape and going out to play in another NBA arena, you know, one that’s pretty pretty famous, and that’ll be a good opportunity for our guys.”