3 takeaways from BYU’s loss to No. 8 Houston

BYU has its first 4-game losing skid of its Big 12 era.

The 16th-ranked Cougars fell 77-66 to No. 8 Houston Saturday night at the Marriott Center, unable to break out of their recent rut for a potential season-altering, signature win.

BYU is now 17-6 on the season and 5-5 in Big 12 play after beginning 5-1 against conference foes.

3 takeaways

BYU’s defense looked better, but the results didn’t improve much. The Cougars have been gashed defensively during their losing streak, most notably having given up 99 points to unranked Oklahoma State.

To BYU’s credit, the defense did appear more engaged on Saturday. For the most part, the Cougars seemed more locked in and played with more toughness.

However, Houston is still Houston.

The Cougars in red shot 47.5% from the field, 35% from 3-point range and averaged 1.31 points per possession in Provo, only turning the ball over four times. Houston hit a number of tough, contested shots and always found a way to manufacture scoring.

The defensive effort was better, to be sure. Perhaps that’s something for BYU to build off in order to get out of its current hole, but it still wasn’t nearly good enough.

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BYU’s big men struggled. The duo of Keba Keita and Abdullah Ahmed laid a major egg on Saturday, combining to shoot 3 of 10 from the field and 3 of 7 from the free throw line.

Keita and Ahmed also managed just eight total rebounds in 38 minutes on the floor, getting beaten often on the glass to allow Houston to grab 13 offensive boards.

Additionally, Richie Saunders had his worst outing in recent memory by scoring just seven points on 1 of 8 shooting with three turnovers and a game-low minus-18 plus/minus, though he did post seven rebounds and four assists.

Ahmed’s five points were the only bench scoring for BYU all night, with the blue Cougars missing 12 free throws as well in the 11-point loss.

The water’s getting deep for BYU. Before the season, did anyone expect the Cougars to drop four straight games at any point this year?

It feels inevitable that the preseason No. 8 team in the country is about to fall out of Monday’s new AP Top 25 poll.

BYU has lost five of its past six, only having beaten lowly Utah in that stretch. Four of those Cougar losses have come to ranked foes — in addition to the shocking letdown at Oklahoma State — but that’s a whole other problem altogether.

BYU can’t beat the best of the Big 12. Kevin Young’s crew isn’t among the upper portion of the league.

BYU’s bracketology picture is getting blurrier, as the prospect of receiving a top-16 protected seed on selection Sunday is slipping away with each new loss. The recent losses are making it much, much more difficult to find a favorable tournament road in March.

BYU will look to get back to its winning ways Tuesday at Baylor, but as evidenced in Stillwater, road wins aren’t simple in the Big 12.