Cougars knock off West Virginia in Morgantown
You know what they say: cue Country Roads.
BYU did what Kansas couldn’t, taking down West Virginia in Morgantown. The Cougars scored from all over the floor to beat the Mountaineers 86-73 on Saturday.
BYU and West Virginia came into the game with three conference wins apiece. Although the Mountaineers are considered one of the worst teams in the conference, any Big 12 road game is a test. Texas, Kansas, and Cincinnati all attempted to take West Virginia down at home and walked away with a loss.
The Cougars were led by Fouss Traore with a career-high 24 points and nine rebounds. Spencer Johnson, Richie Saunders, and Jaxson Robinson each had a double-digit scoring efforts to carry BYU to 86 points, right around their season average.
The Cougars started the game off freezing cold, missing their first seven three-pointers. Luckily for BYU, Traore started his career game early to keep the Cougars close with the absence of Aly Khalifa. The teams traded buckets for the first 17 minutes with BYU holding a slight edge.
The Cougars started to hit shots late into the first half, heading into halftime with a 13-4 run. BYU had just three turnovers in the first half to go along with 16 points from the bench.
Dallin Hall continued to play well this game, recording a career-high 12 assists and just one turnover. He controlled the tempo the entire game and was the definition of a floor general for the Cougars.
BYU came out of halftime scorching hot, and had a 17-point lead with just over 13 minutes left to play. It was beginning to look like the Cougars were going to run away with it.
However, BYU’s second-half struggles came back to haunt it yet again, and West Virginia started to hit shots and gain some confidence. With just five minutes left in the game, the Cougars lead had been whittled down to just five.
Right when it was looking like BYU was about to blow yet another halftime lead, Trevin Knell and Saunders hit ridiculous threes to give the Cougars some cushion. BYU’s defense tightened up and hit a few more shots down the stretch to seal the game for the Cougars.
BYU moves to 4-4 in conference play to kick off the easiest five-game stretch of its schedule. The Cougars will continue their road trip against Oklahoma Tuesday night in Norman. Whether or not Khalifa will fly out to join the team is yet to be determined.
Chase is the sports editor for the Daily Universe. Follow him on X: @Chase_rogers0
