BYU proves it's not a 'one-trick pony' in a win over West Virginia

Coming into Saturday night, BYU was one of the hottest offenses in the country.

The Cougars had made over 14 3-point field goals in its last three contests and scored over 90 points in each as well. Against the West Virginia Mountaineers, BYU started ice cold, and it looked like BYU’s offensive rhythm might be gone. The Cougars didn't break 10 points until under the 10-minute mark of the first half.

And while it took some time for BYU to adjust offensively, the Cougars proved they are not a ‘one-trick pony’ in a dominant 77-56 win.

“We’re not a one-trick pony,” coach Kevin Young said. “We don’t have to rely on one way of scoring or on one guy to score.”

After getting off to a sluggish start, BYU went back to an old formula from earlier this season: get the ball to Fousseyni Traore and get everyone else out of the way.

Traore carried BYU in the first half when BYU had nothing else working on offense. He finished the game with a 20 point, 10 rebound double-double and scored 10 of BYU’s 25 first-half points. Despite the disparity in his length and size compared to West Virginia’s front line, Traore punished whoever was matched up with him with his physicality.

"I think the guy sitting right here (Traore) is the most underappreciated BYU basketball player of all time," Dallin Hall said. “He’s really easy to play with. He finds the open spots and he seals smaller guys.”

The Mountaineers were determined not to let the Cougars beat them from the 3-point line and were willing to let Traore go to work without sending any help defense.

Up until the 3:13 minute mark of the first half, West Virginia coach Darian DeVries' game plan was working. The Mountaineers led 19-15 and were on an 11-2 run. But as the Cougars have done all season, they adapted to the task at hand, and broke the Mountaineers with an offensive assault on the rim.

“We were just in mud,” Young said. “Credit to my staff, you know, they were pointing out a lot of things, just how much they were guarding the 3-point line, and so that last five minutes of the first half we really just tried to highlight the rim.”

The Cougars ended the half on a 10-0 run spearheaded by Richie Saunders, who would not be denied. His persistence in attacking the basket wore down West Virginia's defense and helped open up the offense for BYU and give his team a 25-19 advantage at halftime.

The second half was all BYU and Egor Demin led the charge. He scored 14 of his 15 points in the second period, where the Cougars offense exploded for 52 points.

“The way Egor and Richie came out to start the second half, I thought, was a really mature response and just smart,” Young said. “Like, okay, they’re going to guard us like this, then this is going to be open.”

Once the Cougars got rolling, they were almost impossible to stop.

They shot 60% in the second half and even eventually got some long-range shots to fall. However, the main reason BYU won was that it outscored West Virginia in the paint 46-22 and shot 22 free throws. BYU exploited the West Virginia game plan and went away from its normal tendencies to prove that they are indeed, not a ‘one-trick pony’ and that they are one incredibly difficult team to guard now that they are firing on all cylinders.

“I feel like everything is just clicking at the right time,” Traore said. “I’m just super excited the way we just are figuring out everything. Especially now when the big tournament is coming, it’s March time.”