Skip to main content
Sports

Kanon Catchings, V.J. Edgecombe and Conor McGregor: The stars shine in BYU's win over Baylor

When Kevin Young took the head coaching gig at Brigham Young University, one of his biggest goals was to make BYU an NBA pipeline. To change Provo to PROvo.

This meant bigger players, bigger games and bigger fans. Perhaps no game encapsulated Kevin Young's vision of BYU basketball better than Tuesday night's matchup against the Baylor Bears.

In an exciting 93-89 overtime victory over Baylor, BYU's Kanon Catchings showed out in front of over 30 scouts, basketball hall of famers, and an M.M.A. legend.

Photo by BYU Photo

Catchings, who came to BYU as a five-star freshman with his eyes set on the 2025 NBA Draft, has had a less than ideal start to Big 12 play.

There were six straight games in January where he failed to score more than six points, and the Cougars went 2-4 in that stretch. The low point for Catchings came against Oklahoma State, when he came off the bench for the first time all season. He didn't score a single point in only seven minutes of play.

But against Baylor, Catchings showed why he can play at the next level. The freshman went off for 23 points on perfect shooting, including four 3-pointers.

"Yeah, he was unbelievable tonight," Young said. "When you don't miss a shot, I guess you can call that a breakout game. I'm happy for him, because he's had a couple of bumps in the road, but he's stayed the course."

There were over 30 NBA scouts in attendance on Tuesday, but maybe the biggest set of eyes watching Catchings' career game was his aunt, Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings.

Tamika Catchings, one of the greatest players in WNBA history, won the 2011 WNBA MVP, five defensive player of the year awards, the 2012 WNBA championship, and has four Olympic gold medals.

"I didn't want to have a bad game when she was here. Especially when my mom was here, because then I'd have to hear about it," Kanon said.

Tamika Catchings wasn't the only "GOAT" of her respective sport at the Marriott Center. M.M.A. icon, Conor McGregor, also sat courtside to watch Tuesday's game.

The former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion even got BYU's student section riled up, leading them in "B-Y-U" chants at halftime.

"I've seen a lot of famous people," BYU guard Dawson Baker said, "but that's probably one of the most famous people I've ever seen."

BYU guard Egor Demin, who struggled alongside Catchings to start Big 12 play, also had a pro-worthy performance.

The Russian freshman had 15 points and six assists, and even had some clutch drives down the stretch of the game.

Demin's lottery counterpart for Baylor, V.J. Edgecombe, had a career night.

The projected top-10 pick had 28 points on 6 for 8 shooting from deep, 4 rebounds and five assists.

"He's gonna be a problem in the NBA," Young said after Edgecombe's elite performance.

The Marriott Center screamed PROvo from every corner of the arena.

BYU has now won three games in a row and are back in the NCAA Tournament conversation. If its stars can continue this level of play from here on out, expect the Cougars to make some noise in the Big 12.