Hoops season is here: BYU Basketball dominates exhibition game

For the first time in the 2023-2024 season, BYU basketball took the Marriott Center floor in front of fans for an exhibition game against Life Pacific Wednesday night.

The game didn’t count towards the Cougars regular season record, but they won the game 83-55.

Can we really learn anything from an exhibition game against a NAIA team? No. Can we pretend we learned something from an exhibition game against a NAIA team? Sure.

Jaxson Robinson and Spencer Johnson immediately stood out in this game. Robinson ended with 20 points three rebounds and three assists. Johnson had 18 points three rebounds and five assists. It was clear that Johnson is the leader of the team heading into his fourth year with the Cougars.

BYU ended the game with 10 turnovers, which seems to be an improvement in an area the Cougars really struggled with last year.

BYU’s offense was fast and loose. The Cougars shot 33 three-pointers, accounting for nearly 50% of their field goal attempts. They shot early into shot clock as well, prioritizing speed on the break.

A lot of that had to do with the play calling. There was no play calling.

“We had no playbook tonight,” said Mark Pope. “We were just going kind of spend the whole night living in the transition decision tree.”

BYU plays their official season opener Monday night at 7 p.m. against Houston Christian at the Marriott Center to tip-off their inaugural Big 12 season.

“We are going to fight,” said Pope after the game. “Cougar Nation’s going to walk out of here proud of what these guys do this season.”

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