Brigham Young 1/25 10:30 pm ESPN 2

[GoBearcats31]

UC heads west for two games in the Beehive State, first at BYU on Saturday night and then at Utah next week. I thought this was a 10 p.m. ET tip but apparently it is now listed at 10:30. Roxy Bernstein and King McClure will have the call on Saturday night. This is the sixth game in a row on ESPN2, so expect it to start over on the ESPN app ...

BYU is 12-6 (3-4). After starting 1-4, BYU has recently won at Oklahoma State, lost in OT at Utah and just won at Colorado by 16 on Tuesday. They also have a 20-point win over Arizona State and 5-point loss to Texas Tech, as far as common opponents thus far.

Ken Pom = UC 44, BYU 38
NET = UC 41, BYU 43

BYU is coached by Kevin Young, coming off a number of years as an NBA assistant.

Top players are:
- Richie Saunders, 6'5 guard 14.5 points, 4.1 rebounds (43% from three)
- Egor Demin, 6'9 guard - 10.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, 5.8 assists (likely first round NBA draft pick)
- Trevin Knell, 6'5 guard - 10.1 points, 2.4 rebounds (44.1% from three; hit 9 versus UC last year)

BYU also has two bigs averaging less than 20 minutes but putting up big numbers: Fousseyni Traore (6'6 but 240) 9.7/6.3 and Keba Keita 6.6/8.5

The Cougars score 80.4 points per game and shoot 35.9% from three, but only 68.1% from the free throw line.

The roster features players from Serbia, Russia, Mali (2x), Australia and Senegal.

[Carthage World]

Egor Demin is a big-time playmaker who can finish above the rim and make a lot of creative passes to get guys easy buckets. However, like Jizzle, he is really struggling from 3 during Big 12 play (3/27 - 11.1%) so we know where his weakness lies. Otherwise, BYU returns a lot of guys from last year's team who we beat by 11.

Outside of Trevin Knell's career performance against us, BYU shot 25% from the field, 12.5% from 3, was -9 on the boards and shot 14 less free throws than us. Last year's game was full of turnovers for both teams as we committed 19 and they committed 18.

I say all that to note that our victory in Provo marked one of the best coaching performances of Wes's young career in Clifton. We outscored them 47-29 in the second half. Hopefully this staff can summon some of the magic that made last year's performance possible. This is a game we really need to win to put ourselves on the right side of the NCAA tournament bubble.

[sedz]

BYU is #1 in the country at keeping teams away from the rim. Only 24% of opponent field goals come at the rim. BYU is the second best defensive rebounding team in the nation. They pull down 77.5% of opponent misses. We're going to have to work a lot harder on the boards than we did against TTU. Keita and Traore are two of the top 5 defensive rebounders in the conference.

Despite those two elite defensive statistics, their overall defense is a middling #61 because they give up a ton of threes. Over 45% of opponent field goals come from beyond the arc at a 35% conversion rate. This defense will collapse into the paint, so we need to get a touch there to start every possession and then look for shooters.

Offensively this is the same style of BYU play despite the coaching change. They take a lot of threes and only settle for very high percentage twos (BYU converts 59% of twos, #12 in the country) with a top 50 assist rate. So we've obviously got to defend the three point line, but also be aware of back door cuts which we are generally pretty good at. Keita and Traore do not shoot the three so we don't need to worry about pick-n-pop like Waterman and Khalifa were a threat to do last season.

Richie Saunders is the best offensive player in the conference by a mile, sporting a 10.3 offensive BPM in Big12 play, a full 3 points ahead of second place. Our best? Skillings at #25 and Page at #37. Yes, Arrinten Page is our second best offensive player in conference. He needs to see the floor more.

[Bearcat93]

Egor Demin is a big-time playmaker who can finish above the rim and make a lot of creative passes to get guys easy buckets. However, like Jizzle, he is really struggling from 3 during Big 12 play (3/27 - 11.1%) so we know where his weakness lies. Otherwise, BYU returns a lot of guys from last year's team who we beat by 11.

Outside of Trevin Knell's career performance against us, BYU shot 25% from the field, 12.5% from 3, was -9 on the boards and shot 14 less free throws than us. Last year's game was full of turnovers for both teams as we committed 19 and they committed 18.

I say all that to note that our victory in Provo marked one of the best coaching performances of Wes's young career in Clifton. We outscored them 47-29 in the second half. Hopefully this staff can summon some of the magic that made last year's performance possible. This is a game we really need to win to put ourselves on the right side of the NCAA tournament bubble.

This really was the best game I can remember Wes coaching - not just because we won - but we came back from being down 7 at half to outscoring BYU by 17 in the second. Of note, Vik had a good game, as well as Aziz, at least across the points and rebounding stat lines.

[swilsonsp4]

We may have to wait to see if Aziz can go tomorrow night, since his back tightened up on him (on Wednesday morning, I believe). His back was an issue last season, but hadn't shown evidence of it this year until now.

[leeraymond]

We may have to wait to see if Aziz can go tomorrow night, since his back tightened up on him (on Wednesday morning, I believe). His back was an issue last season, but hadn't shown evidence of it this year until now.

If Aziz cannot play, who is going to play the back-up 5? Poorly constructed roster for the BIG XII. All of these wings and guards and they are not helping UC to win. What is the use of this guard-oriented stuff if it cannot help UC to win? Why would Miller even put a team together without enough bigmen? Any serious high-major team probably needs 5 bigs (6'9" or taller) to rotate and to insure against injury. UC only had three. Then McKinley went down. Currently, UC only has two playable bigs to work with. Now Aziz is hurt.

We will see how the remaining season plays out.

[GoBearcats31]

If Aziz cannot play, who is going to play the back-up 5? Poorly constructed roster for the BIG XII. All of these wings and guards and they are not helping UC to win. What is the use of this guard-oriented stuff if it cannot help UC to win? Why would Miller even put a team together without enough bigmen? Any serious high-major team probably needs 5 bigs (6'9" or taller) to rotate and to insure against injury. UC only had three. Then McKinley went down. Currently, UC only has two playable bigs to work with. Now Aziz is hurt. What kind of coach puts together a roster like this?

We will see how the remaining season plays out.

I guess you play Mitchell as the big and have a more perimeter-oriented team (whether that involves JJ and Day Day more together or throw in CJ some more and then slide Simas back down to the 4?)

[sedz]

I think you go positionless and switch everything. Simas, Skillings, Reed, Betsey, Mitchell. Switch or blitz every screen. Perfect game to try it against a team that's 6'8 and under at the 5. Could be a revelation.

[London 'Cat]

What about the Frenchman? - can't remember his name. Could he play spot minutes to give someone a few minutes of rest throughout the game?

[Carthage World]

What about the Frenchman? - can't remember his name. Could he play spot minutes to give someone a few minutes of rest throughout the game?

I'd probably play Josh Reed at center in the Draymond role before I gave Dzellat meaningful minutes against a top 50 opponent.

[London 'Cat]

I'd probably play Josh Reed at center in the Draymond role before I gave Dzellat meaningful minutes against a top 50 opponent.

They've already burned his redshirt. Might as well get him some PT. At least he has 5 fouls to give.

[swilsonsp4]

When I mentioned Aziz's back tightening, it wasn't my intention to suggest that it's unlikely that he'll play. It's strictly an unknown at this point.

[swilsonsp4]

Early odds out tonight: BYU -4.5

[leeraymond]

BYU is #1 in the country at keeping teams away from the rim. Only 24% of opponent field goals come at the rim. BYU is the second best defensive rebounding team in the nation. They pull down 77.5% of opponent misses. We're going to have to work a lot harder on the boards than we did against TTU. Keita and Traore are two of the top 5 defensive rebounders in the conference.

Despite those two elite defensive statistics, their overall defense is a middling #61 because they give up a ton of threes. Over 45% of opponent field goals come from beyond the arc at a 35% conversion rate. This defense will collapse into the paint, so we need to get a touch there to start every possession and then look for shooters.

Offensively this is the same style of BYU play despite the coaching change. They take a lot of threes and only settle for very high percentage twos (BYU converts 59% of twos, #12 in the country) with a top 50 assist rate. So we've obviously got to defend the three point line, but also be aware of back door cuts which we are generally pretty good at. Keita and Traore do not shoot the three so we don't need to worry about pick-n-pop like Waterman and Khalifa were a threat to do last season.

Richie Saunders is the best offensive player in the conference by a mile, sporting a 10.3 offensive BPM in Big12 play, a full 3 points ahead of second place. Our best? Skillings at #25 and Page at #37. Yes, Arrinten Page is our second best offensive player in conference. He needs to see the floor more.

I agree. Page should play more.

[bearcatlifer]

Can no longer bear to watch them on TV. It's demoralizing.The home games are fun. For all of our recent ineptitude UC has really done a good job with the "fan experience". This goes for basketball and football.
Kind of like the Chicago Cubs...people keep attending games because it is a fun way to pass the time even though the team is terrible. Probably not a sustainable strategy for collge sports.