BYU basketball overcomes sloppy play to beat UC Riverside

BYU basketball got off to a roaring start to open the game against the UC Riverside Highlanders.

Up 16-3, it looked how it was supposed to; BYU's size and talent looked too much for UC Riverside to handle. However, from then on, BYU was outscored 77-70 the rest of the game.

Final: BYU 86, UC Riverside 80.

The biggest reason for the tight outcome — BYU lost the math equation that is so important to winning games in the analytics age of basketball. The Cougars shot 6 of 22 from 3 and 53.8% from the free-throw line. UC Riverside made 11 of their 28 3-point attempts and was at one point 18 of 20 from the free-throw line compared to BYU's 9 for 18 midway through the second half.

The Cougars severely missed Dallin Hall on a night where BYU only had 15 assists on 33 made field goals.

“I think not having Dallin rears its head at times. He’s clearly a steadying force. He’s our starting point guard and the guy’s not out there," said BYU head coach Kevin Young. "You take an experienced group like UC Riverside at the same time you pull an experienced guy off of our group. It’s good for our guys to have to learn how to play against teams like that, regardless of who we have out there."

1 of 2

_E2_8766.jpg

@BYUPHOTO

2 of 2

_E2_8737.jpg

@BYUPHOTO

1 of 2

The offense looked especially out of sync during Egor Demin's minutes off the floor. There were way too many one-pass or no-pass possessions, resulting in bad offense and poor defense on the other end.

"You know, their scheme is built around guarding a 3-point line. You know, that's why we only got 22 of them up," said Young. "I wasn't happy with our shot selection across the board."

The Cougars' focus, more than anything else, plagued them in the second half. Multiple times, BYU got beat in transition and allowed easy baskets. There were multiple times, even off of BYU makes, that UC Riverside found wide-open shots at the beginning of the shot clock because BYU did not match up correctly. There were not one, but two backcourt turnovers in the final minutes of the game that, if the Highlanders capitalized on, the Cougars might have been in even more of a dogfight than they already were.

These early-season mental lapses did not cost BYU Friday night, but they need to be nipped in the bud now, or they could cost the Cougars down the line.

UC Riverside also deserves credit; four players scored in double figures, with Kaleb Smith leading the way with 20 points on 4-9 shooting and 9-10 from the free-throw line. The Highlanders forced BYU to play a different style than the Cougars wanted.

Now to the positives...

The Cougars relied heavily on the individual scoring prowess of Demin and Fousseyni Traore in the post. Demin efficiently scored 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting from the field while throwing seven assists. He continues to show NBA scouts why he will be a lottery pick in June.

Traore was effective in the paint against the Highlanders. They did not double-team him many times, so Traore took advantage. He leveraged himself down low all game long. He scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds, including five offensive rebounds.

The other big man, Keba Keita, also took advantage inside, scoring 14 points on 5 of 6 shooting and grabbing 10 rebounds. It was his fourth double-double of his career and first as a Cougar. Keita continues to be the perfect fit next to Demin, and their pick-and-rolls continually result in good looks for BYU.

"I was happy with Keita and Fouss," said Young. "You know, they combined for 27 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks on an extremely efficient night from the field."

Even though BYU gave up 80 points to UC Riverside, the Cougars still showed flashes of their defensive potential. They forced 12 Highlander turnovers, seven steals and blocked seven shots.

BYU's athleticism and talent alone will win them a lot of games this season. But to be a truly great team, a contender in the Big 12, they need to build continuity fast.

“I mean we gotta figure out each other," said Richie Saunders. "I think that’s the first thing. But facing the adversity, it was, came out with a win, and I think that’s the biggest thing to show that. We have a lot of stuff that we got to figure out or that we have got to improve on, and we will."

The Cougars are experiencing growing pains without their floor general. Playing through mistakes is important for BYU right now, especially when Hall is out. But the Cougars need him to come back soon so that he can get the reps he needs before BYU's bigger matchups.