After BYU lost 71-67 to TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, on Saturday afternoon, Cougars coach Kevin Young noted that his squad could just as easily be 3-1 in Big 12 play, instead of 1-3.
BYU (10-5, 1-3) was completely overmatched at No. 12 Houston on Jan. 4, but it was just a play here or there that kept it from defeating Texas Tech at home last Tuesday.
A lack of late-game execution also doomed the Cougars at Schollmaier Arena on Saturday, as BYU failed to make a field goal in the final three minutes, 10 seconds of the game against the shorthanded Frogs.
"Yeah, hard-fought game. It was an exciting game. They made plays down the stretch there," Young said in the postgame news conference. "We had a couple costly turnovers that really hurt us, and I thought that was the story of the game."
Although the Cougars dominated the glass, out-rebounding TCU 35-24, the Frogs were able to get off 13 more shots, thanks to BYU's 16 turnovers.
"So we gotta be better there," Young said. "And then defensively, for the most part I thought we did a good job. We are kicking ourselves for not getting the ball out of ( Noah Reynolds ) hands there at the end. But he's a heckuva player, made a big play."
Reynolds' field goal in the paint with 24 seconds remaining broke a 67-67 tie and was the game-winner, as BYU didn't get off a good shot. Freshman Egor Demin's twisting 3-pointer with nine seconds left didn't come close.
The Cougars made just nine field goals in the second half, which Young attributed to the turnovers, rather than poor shot selection.
Richie Saunders led BYU with 26 points on 9 of 13 shooting, and also made two clutch free throws with 1:44 left to give BYU a 67-65 lead. Turns out, those were the last points the Cougars would score.
"There is stuff that I didn't do, that I wish I would have, different things," Saunders said, when asked what was working for him offensively. "We moved the ball well as a team and I was just fortunate enough to get some of those one more (passes) that led to shots today."
So where do the Cougars go from here?
Young tweaked his starting lineup before the game, inserting senior Trevin Knell into the starting lineup in the place of junior Dallin Hall. He said he did it to get different combinations of players on the floor together, such as Hall with Fousseyni Traore.
Perhaps the most glaring issue to address moving forward is that the first-year coach needs to get more out of Demin, who was 3 of 8 from the field for eight points. He had four assists to go along with four turnovers.
Fellow freshman Kanon Catchings started for the 15th straight time, but played just nine minutes and was a non-factor with three points and three turnovers.
What's missing?
"You gotta have grit," Young said. "We very easily could have won either game, but we didn't, right? So you gotta kind of band together. I think that will make us closer. We kinda got our backs against the wall here in the early part of the league play."
After struggling at the free-throw line in the 72-67 loss to Texas Tech, BYU was a bit better in that department, going 14 of 19 (73.7%) from the charity stripe.
"I think there is stuff that we definitely emphasized going into this game that we did well, so we will have to double down on that, and then continue to work on the things we are struggling with," Young said.
BYU returns to the Marriott Center to host also-struggling Oklahoma State on Tuesday (7 p.m. MST, ESPN+) and will attempt to get back on track.
The Cowboys lost 83-62 at Utah on Saturday night and are 9-6 overall, 1-3 in league play.
"I think any time you lose, it really makes you examine the game even more in trying to figure out where you can get better," Young said.
