I was on my high horse last week. Flaunting BYU basketball like they were the greatest thing ever. I was spitting out stats about how they are ranked in the top 5 in a lot of areas and saying how they could be top 10 if they can go undefeated all the way up to conference play. Well, they lost. And not only did the lose, they lost to Utah.

BYU vs Utah Basketball Game Recap

BYU has been riding high in the rivalry until this last basketball game. The Cougars won the last football game in 2021 and the teams havent played for 2 years now and BYU basketball had won 3 straight versus Utah. So both Utah football and basketball hadnt won a game since 2019. But Utah beat BYU in the latest basketball game, by a score of 73-69.

I have to admit, there is some pain in me having to break down this game. BYU was losing most of the game. Their only lead was 3-2 at the beginning of the game. But BYU did not play like themselves. They looked too energized. Too emotional. Too forced. Fouss did not play the game as he was out with a hamstring injury and that played a little bit of a factor in the game. But BYU actually out rebounded, by 1, one of the tallest teams in the country, who also happen to start 2 seven footers. That is amazing. BYU was everywhere on the offensive glass. They had 17 total offensive rebounds.

I want to start talking about the good and the rebounding so we didnt have to talk a lot about the shooting. BYU shot horribly. Their worst game of the season so far. They were 37% overall, 23% from 3, and 56% from the FT line. That just wont get it done. They missed 8 free throws. If they even made 4 more, this game goes to OT. They also had 5 less turnovers than Utah. It was really a pretty good game for BYU, other than the shooting.

Game Breakdown

So BYU was down the whole game. At halftime, BYU was down 14. The largest lead of the game for Utah was 16. But it wasn’t until about 10 minutes left in the second half that BYU, down 10 at the time, started to turn it on.

BYU went on a 11-3 run to cut the lead to 2 with 4:38 left. Jaxon Robinson had 7 of those 11 points. Then Utah went on their own little 7-2 run to stretch the lead to 7 with 3 minutes left. And then after a couple of FTs by Hall and 1 FT by Spencer Johnson, Gabe Madsen, who was on fire the whole game, hit a dagger 3. That put Utah up 7 with 1 minute left. It was a slow defensive rotation by BYU. Madsen lead the way for Utah with 17 points coming from 5 3 pointers.

Madness to End the Game

But BYU didnt quit. They hit 2 FTs and then had a full court pressure to steal the in bounds and hit a 3, by Saunders. That cut the lead to 2 with 41 seconds left. BYU was right back in the game! They didnt even have to foul, they could just play their good straight up defense. So they did. They got a stop on a air ball 3 as the shot clock was winding down. Great defense. Now BYU had it with 7 seconds left and a chance to win or tie the game.

I dont believe it was the greatest call in the world. Yes, Dallin Hall has hit some big shots for BYU in the past, game winners, even, but BYU should have gone to their best player, who is Jaxon Robinson. Hall got the ball, passed to Khalifa at the elbow, and Khalifa gave it right back to him as Hall turned the the corner. The big guy guarding Khalifa switched to Hall and didnt let Hall turn the corner to the basket, it was great defense. Hall lost the ball out of bounds and saved it, but right to Utah and BYU had to foul. Utah made both of their FTs and the game was over.

BYU Breakdown

5 guys were in double digit scoring with Robinson leading the way with 17 points. Noah Waterman and Trevin Knell were a combined 0-10 from 3. These guys had made huge strides to start the season. Waterman was shooting 43% and Knell was shooting 45%. So the law of averages did not work out in their favor. The fact that BYU shot this bad and still almost tied or won the game is encouraging though. They kept fighting and kept working.

Now they know what they need to do when these nights happen. A lot to take away from the game for sure. BYU also doesnt have possibly two of their best players right now in Fouss and Dawson Baker. Baker, a transfer from UC Irvine hasnt played yet this season, but before he got injured in the preseason, was supposedly one of the better players on the team. He is supposed to come back soon, like in December, according to Coach Pope.

Game Previews for Denver and Georgia St

Up next for BYU is a game vs Denver tonight at the Marriott Center. BYU is currently favored by 27 points. So it should be a blowout. Denver is 6-4 on the season. They have a very good scorer in Tommy Bruner. He is averaging 24 points a game on 39% shooting. Bruner is also their leading assists guy with 3.9 per game. He is THE guy and BYU will definitely need to focus on him.

After that game, BYU will take on Georgia St on Saturday at the Marriott Center. I would expect about the same outcome as the Denver game. Georgia St may hold on for a little longer, but I would expect a win of 20+. Georgia St is 4-5 and they score from a bunch of different guys but their leading points per game player is Lucas Taylor with 14.

BYU Basketball Rankings

Ranking wise, BYU only fell 4 spots in the AP poll to #18. In ESPN’s Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology, BYU is still a 4 seed playing in Salt Lake City in the first round, this time against 13 seed UC Irvine.

BYU Football Coaching and Player News

New Offensive Line Coach

BYU football is hiring TJ Woods as their next offensive line coach. He has 20 years of experience and has coached at Wisconsin, UNLV, Utah St, and most recently at Georgia St. When he was co offensive coordinator at UNLV, UNLV produced 2 straight years of 1,000 yard rushers. When he was at Utah St, they had the second most passing yards in school history. He also had numerous players hit all conference honors. Now this isnt just him, a lot of coaches go into those stats but thats still a little encouraging.

I dont know how I feel about this quite yet. He seems like a good offensive line coach but hasnt really done a whole lot yet. Woods is a good hire but not great. I cant wait to see if he can take the next step with BYU. I think he will have to and BYU needs him to.

Players Leaving

Aidan Robbins, starting RB for part of the season last year before he got hurt and for the last couple of games when he came back, announced that he is entering his name into the NFL draft. So it looks like next year it’ll be all on LJ Martin’s shoulders, which I am excited about. He blossomed this last season and should continue to get better for next season.

Miles Davis also entered his name into the transfer portal. He was probably 4th on the depth chart last year so it makes sense, but with Aidan Robbins leaving for the NFL and Deion Smith graduating, he would certainly be the backup to Martin. Will be interesting to see if he actually leaves. Right now the backup is Hinckley Ropati.

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