BYU men’s basketball defeated Colorado Christian 93-49 Wednesday night in its only exhibition game before the start of the regular season.
BYU held out Trey Stewart, Dallin Hall and Fousseyni Traore for precautionary reasons.
"We're working with the medical group. I mean, tonight was mainly precautionary for Dallin and Fouss. You know Trey's probably maybe a bit longer, but hopefully," said coach Kevin Young on if Traore, Hall and Stewart will be ready to go opening night.
The Cougars started Egor Demin, Trevin Knell, Richie Saunders, Kanon Catchings and Keba Keita.
From the very tip, it was all BYU when Demin threw an alley-oop pass to Catchings for the dunk in the first six seconds of the game. It was all Catchings and Saunders early; they combined to score the Cougars' first 16 points of the game. Catchings was dialed in from long-distance early, shooting 2-3 from 3 and scoring 14 of his 19 points in the first half.
"I thought he looked awesome in his first, you know, kind of go at it," said Young.
Outside of Catchings and Saunders, BYU started the game slowly and was only ahead 11-6, but then the dam broke. The Cougars forced 10 steals in the first half and held Colorado Christian to 12 points as BYU closed the half on a 31-6 run.
The Cougars played 10 players in the first half, even with Hall, Traore and Stewart out. Of the backend players in BYU’s rotation, Elijah Crawford excelled, scoring 8 points on 3-3 shooting. He was a disruptive force on defense, pressuring Colorado Christian’s guards up and down the court all game long with his quickness.
The Cougars showed multiple defensive looks throughout the night, including a 2-1-2 half-court pressure with Saunders and Demin pressuring. BYU has the length on the wing to try different defensive looks. Young even experimented with some small ball lineups with Mawot Mag playing at the five.
The second half started with a 3-point barrage from BYU as Trevin Knell, Dawson Baker and Saunders knocked down corner 3’s to push the Cougars ahead 69-22 with 14 minutes to play. Knell scored 17 points on 5-8 shooting, all from the 3-point line. Baker added 12 points on 4-7 shooting, all in the second half.
While Demin scored a grand total of zero points for the Cougars, he never forced shots up and found open shooters all game. He finished the game with 11 assists, five rebounds and two turnovers. Colorado Christian always shaded their defense towards Demin, and he found open teammates in the corners all game long.
"It actually is really fun. It's fun to know that when you cut, you're going to get the ball," Saunders said about Demin's passing ability. "He's tall and just has this gift to see. ... I love playing, and I'm excited to keep playing with him."
The Cougars finished the game connection on 50% of their 3-point attempts, making 18. They also finished the game assisting on 24 of their 31 total field goals, which made Young happy.
"The stat for me that I like the most was, and this is just who we've tried to be since I've gotten here, was just unselfish," said Young. "Twenty-four assists on 31 makes. I think 10 guys had an assist. So just in terms of them carrying over things that we've talked about quite a bit. I like seeing that."
The Cougars' playmaking and athleticism stood out against Colorado Christian despite the talent advantage. The Cougars next matchup will be Tuesday, Nov. 5, against Central Arkansas, in the season-opener.