Smiles, back slaps and high fives returned to the Marriott Center late Saturday night, as left-for-dead BYU rallied from a 13-point first half deficit to knock off No. 10 Texas Tech 82-76 in front of 18,104 anxious fans.
It was just what the doctor ordered for the Cougars, who had lost their three previous games and were being doubted as an NCAA Tournament team despite their No. 24 NET ranking (No. 25 in KenPom) and six Quad 1 wins.
Saturday’s first win over Texas Tech since 1993 marked BYU’s seventh Quad 1 win, and second Quad 1A win, with the Cougars having upset then-No. 6 Iowa State two weeks ago in Provo.
“It was good,” coach Kevin Young said of BYU’s preparation ahead of Senior Night and the regular-season finale. “Some of our best days this year on the practice court, and a large reason was we really had to (turn it around). Call a spade a spade. It has been a tough year.”
The question now: Which BYU team will show up in the postseason? Will it be the one that looked like a legitimate contender against shorthanded Texas Tech, or the one that looked clueless on defense and lacked effort in losses to UCF, West Virginia and Cincinnati?
“Just (from) my experience of postseason basketball, whether it’s March Madness or the NBA playoffs, is you just have to rely on your habits,” Young said.
“You can’t come out and do something uncharacteristic. You got to rely on what’s gotten you to that point, do what you’re good at, do your job, and ultimately if you do that, then you’re able to execute, and hopefully that leads to wins.”
Those last three aforementioned losses dropped BYU to a No. 10 seed in the Big 12 tournament, although the Cougars technically tied for seventh with a 9-9 league record. BYU has now finished at .500 or better in all three of its seasons as a member of the Big 12, a remarkable feat considering the league is often referred to as the best in college basketball.
The Cougars will face No. 15 seed Kansas State (12-19, 3-15) in a first-round game on Tuesday at 5 p.m. MDT in T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. BYU (21-10, 9-9) defeated K-State 83-73 on Jan. 3 in Manhattan, Kansas, in the Big 12 opener for both teams, and is an 11-point favorite, according to Kenpom.com.
If the Cougars beat the Wildcats again, they will face No. 7 seed West Virginia on Wednesday at 5 p.m. MDT in a second-round game.
The winner of that game will meet No. 2 seed Houston in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
“I think it is (about) making sure we get in treatment, take care of our bodies, like we’ve been (doing) all season,” said BYU point guard Rob Wright after scoring 23 of his game-high 27 points in the win over fellow standout guard Christian Anderson (23 points, nine assists) and Texas Tech.
“We got to win every game, so just moving on to this Big 12 tournament, we are just coming in hungry.”
Young said the Cougars “will be fine” with the quick turnaround, although the Cougars’ thin bench has been troublesome all season.
“I mean, these guys are young,” Young said. “Not me, on the other hand. I am exhausted. I need to get home and get some sleep.”
BYU was scheduled to fly to Kansas City on Sunday but won’t be practicing again until Monday, per school policy.
Kansas State lost 104-85 at rival Kansas on Saturday, but was coming off a 65-63 win over West Virginia last Tuesday and has played slightly better since the dismissal of head coach Jerome Tang on Feb. 15.
Tuesday’s game will feature two of the top four scorers in the country, as BYU’s AJ Dybantsa (24.7 ppg.) is No. 1 and K-State’s PJ Haggerty (23.3 ppg.) is at No. 4.
Dybantsa had 24 points on 8 of 15 shooting in the first matchup, while Haggerty was 8 of 16 from the field and 8 of 10 from the free-throw line for 24 points.
Cougar reserve forward Mihailo Boskovic, who was honored on Senior Night along with Richie Saunders, Jared McGregor and Keba Keita, said the message from BYU coaches the past few days has been to “weather the storm” because it is eventually going to pass.
“We’ve been through a rough little patch out there, but after this win, I feel like we kind of regained our wave, and now we’re getting ready for the conference (tournament) and the NCAA Tournament,” Boskovic said.
Selection Sunday is next Sunday, and BYU currently sits between a six seed and an eight seed in most mock brackets, with an average seed of 6.53 in the Bracket Matrix at Bracketmatrix.com.
The Cougars are a lock to make the Big Dance for the third-straight year. What happens this week could determine whether they will be wearing white or dark jerseys in the first round on March 20.
