UCF’s 97-84 upset over BYU Tuesday night was as deflating a setback as the Cougars have experienced in years.
But many of the most extreme elements of the embarrassing result weren’t unfamiliar at all.
In recent outings, especially after defeating No. 6 Iowa State, BYU had seemingly buried some of its worst previous habits. Even without Richie Saunders, the Cougars appeared to be figuring things out and gaining momentum for the season’s stretch run.
Such belief quickly evaporated against UCF — quite literally.
The story for most of the season has been BYU’s consistent and puzzling pattern of stumbling out the gate and needing to rally in order to win, or at least make the final score more respectable.
It had been a while since the Cougars’ last slow start, only for them to lay their biggest egg by far to open Tuesday.
“Really, (intensity is) where Rob and AJ have to grow. They don’t have it in them naturally to be hair-on-fire type guys, but I think when you’re not naturally that way and you’re not naturally a vocal leader, I think you have to learn how to lead sometimes.”
— BYU coach Kevin Young
BYU trailed 14-4 after less than four minutes, prompting Kevin Young to call his first timeout before the first commercial break.
The timeout didn’t make a difference. The Cougars went into halftime having sunk into a 24-point hole, then allowed a 12-0 UCF run to start the second half and pump the deficit up to 36.
“I thought we had a lot of momentum coming off the heels of a good win the other night, and just didn’t expect that kind of start,” Young said on BYU’s postgame radio show. “... Really disappointed in our approach to start the game.
“... I thought we looked tired. I thought we looked disinterested.”
Such an apparent lack of interest could be observed on the defensive end, where BYU surrendered 97 UCF points at an average of 1.31 points per possession.
Not since Utah Valley dropped 114 points back in 2016 had the Cougars allowed such an opposing scoring outburst at the Marriott Center.
Losing 99-92 at Oklahoma State earlier this month felt like rock bottom for BYU’s defense, but allowing 97 points at home to a team playing without its leading scorer is clearly the much more frightening result.
“We were sleepwalking out there, so I won’t pretend to pinpoint it,” Young told reporters of the defensive performance. “I didn’t expect that in the slightest. Super disappointed in our guys, super disappointed in myself and our coaches. Just was a night that was not good all around. There was just every breakdown you could possibly imagine.”
UCF scored 44 points in the paint and 19 in transition. The Knights made five of their first six 3-pointers and had another stretch where they sank eight of nine.
BYU’s perimeter defense struggles have been well documented, with the Cougars allowing a Big 12-worst 38.6% opposing 3-point percentage in conference play.
For comparison, Saunders was shooting 37.6% from long distance prior to his torn ACL. Thus, BYU’s opponents turn into an even better version of the First Team All-Big 12 talent Saunders when they shoot triples against the Cougars.
UCF, however, practically became prime Steph Curry or Klay Thompson by shooting 58% from 3 against BYU.
The Knights’ 3-point explosion was notable in that so many of their looks were wide open. According to Young, he was only satisfied with “probably two” of BYU’s attempts to contest outside shots.
“You’ve got to make teams miss. I just thought our contests were soft,” Young said. “When you let a team like (UCF), who they have talent clearly, and you let a team get comfortable, man, that’s the worst thing you can do, and that was the case tonight.”
BYU’s offense wasn’t much better, scoring just 28 points before halftime at an average of 0.78 points per possession.
AJ Dybantsa and Rob Wright III were clearly frustrated in the opening period, combining for just 14 points on 5-of-21 shooting.
Transition offense has been an underratedly crucial aspect for BYU this season — entering Tuesday, the Cougars were averaging 14.8 fast-break points in each Big 12 win, while just 8.0 in conference losses.
But BYU didn’t score once in transition in the first half, and in the first eight minutes of the second half before UCF took its foot off the gas, only a single Wright 3-pointer came from the fast-break attack.
Additionally, against Iowa State, the non-Dybantsa and Wright contributors in BYU’s rotation seemed to take a major step forward, as Kennard Davis Jr., Mihailo Boskovic, Keba Keita and Khadim Mboup combined for 44 points.
But perhaps the supporting cast’s performance against the Cyclones was merely fool’s gold. On Tuesday against UCF, that same group managed just 14 points on 36% shooting.
While BYU did score 56 points in the second half (35 coming from Dybantsa and Wright), it’s hard to take such a number seriously considering UCF’s comfortable lead and conservative late defense.
The Cougars were more aggressive down the stretch, to be sure, but it came far too late. BYU won’t win games without immediate intensity. The 24-point halftime deficit against UCF made that abundantly clear.
“Really, (intensity is) where Rob and AJ have to grow. They don’t have it in them naturally to be hair-on-fire type guys, but I think when you’re not naturally that way and you’re not naturally a vocal leader, I think you have to learn how to lead sometimes,” Young said.
“I think that’s a challenge that they’re going through right now, and it’s a growth process for both of them. I think AJ has it in him a little bit more naturally. Rob’s got to kind of get out of his comfort zone a little bit more, because that’s really where we miss Richie more than anything.”
BYU’s final regular-season road trip is up next, with the Cougars heading for a pair of Quad 1 contests against West Virginia and Cincinnati, the latter having given BYU more trouble than anyone other than Houston and Texas Tech since joining the Big 12.
Things have never felt this bleak for the Cougars this season. It will be a very revealing road trip, with Young feeling grateful for the timing of this travel as a potential tool for his team.
“I think it’s a good time of year to be on the road as you’re kind of gearing up for postseason,” Young said. “I think it’ll be a really pivotal trip for our group, you know, to kind of continue to band together.
“That was really my message after the game, it was very brief, but it’s like, ‘You guys need each other, it’s the bottom line. You needed each other against Iowa State, you needed each other against this team, you need each other against every team.’
“I thought we were too siloed tonight offensively, I thought defensively we didn’t help each other enough. When you go on the road, you’ve got no choice but to band together.”
