No. 11 Cougars remain ahead of schedule after scratching their way past gritty TCU

To the untrained eye, it looked as though the No. 11 BYU Cougars regressed a little bit offensively in their hard-fought 76-70 win over defensive-minded TCU Wednesday night in front of 17,983 at the Marriott Center.

Actually, head coach Kevin Young pointed out in his postgame interviews, it was the opposite. The second-year coach credited TCU’s defensive effort, and attributed the season-low 35.3% shooting from the field and season-low 20.8% (5 of 24) shooting from 3-point range to the Frogs’ tenacity and guys just not making shots, rather than poor shot selection or the like.

“I was proud of the way our guys executed. Look, to score 46 points against that team in the second half, that’s pretty impressive,” Young said. “That was our best offensive execution of the season, and we needed every bit of it.”

Young pointed to a 3-pointer that Richie Saunders made with 2:14 remaining to push BYU’s lead to 70-63 as an example of outstanding execution. The senior had missed his first five 3-point attempts, but kept plugging away and his teammates kept finding him.

“Our guys stayed the course, and that shot Richie took was a product of doing just that,” Young said.

Against TCU’s pressure defense, the Cougars committed just nine turnovers after struggling to take care of the ball in wins over Kansas State, Arizona State and Utah. Point guard Rob Wright was especially efficient, with six assists, 15 points and just two turnovers in more than 39 minutes.

“The stuff that we spent a lot of time on, I thought paid dividends,” Young said. “I thought Rob, for the most part, was very surgical against their aggressive defense.”

The biggest reason why the Cougars won, according to both Young and TCU coach Jamie Dixon, was that the Cougars collected 24 second-chance points on a whopping 21 offensive rebounds. Even with backup center Bido Ahmed sidelined with a sore shoulder, the Cougars won the rebounding battle 51-36, including a 30-13 advantage in the second half.

Dixon cautiously pointed out the free-throw disparity, noting that BYU went to the line 29 times (making 23) while the visitors got 18 freebies, making 12. The Frogs made one more field goal than BYU did, 25-24. Clearly, Dixon acknowledged, BYU was the more aggressive team in the second half, when it got eight more opportunities from the charity stripe.

Saunders, who was 9 of 11 from the line, said the message at halftime was to attack even more, and go hard to the glass. He said coaches showed the Cougars a clip of Keba Keita diving for a loose ball in the first half to inspire them to play even harder.

“He got the extra possession, and KY said, ‘that’s why we’re going to win this game,’” Saunders said. “It was an attitude of toughness.”

Young prides himself on having a team that can play different styles offensively — slow or fast, inside or out, isolation stuff involving the uber-talented AJ Dybantsa, and everything in between. That was on full display Wednesday night as BYU improved to 4-0 in conference play for the first time since 2012-13 in the WCC.

“It just helps prove to the guys that we can win in a lot of different ways,” Young said. “We are not a one- or even a two-trick pony. If you are missing shots, there are still ways you can impact winning. … It was a team effort there. I think it just gives our guys confidence.”

A lot of confidence will be needed for what’s next, as 16-1 BYU’s schedule gets even more difficult. The Cougars are ahead of schedule with 13-straight wins and 12 straight Big 12 regular-season wins dating back to last year. They’ve been able to win on the road and at home, as Young is now 23-2 (92%) in the Marriott Center.

By way of comparison, Dave Rose won 88.1% of his home games, while Mark Pope won 84.6% of his, against lesser competition than what Young has faced.

“We know that we’re a good team and we have to stick together and find a way,” Saunders said.

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