There were a lot of losses in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving. For some, the hit came at the gambling tables. For others, at the overpriced and underperforming holiday buffets. For BYU , their loss was on the temporary basketball floor at Mandalay Bay that triggered fears of a permanent ding to the season.
Who would think losing one big man would allow the Cougars to find two more?
With 13:51 remaining in the first half against NC State , star center Fousseyni Traore charged down the floor on a fast break only to pull up lame before reaching the basket. As the team's leading scorer/rebounder limped to the locker room with a knee and hamstring issue, BYU's hopes and dreams for a big season went with him.
Out on the floor, coach Mark Pope looked at the options he had on his bench — and it wasn't good. Atiki Ally Atiki , a 6-foot-10 junior, was sitting in street clothes after being suspended for fighting the night before against Arizona State.
Then there was Aly Khalifa , who didn't dress for the Sun Devils game with a nagging knee issue of his own. At 6-foot-11, he certainly had the size to fill in for Traore , but Khalifa's injury had also kept him far from optimal game shape.
In an act of faith, hope and a little desperation, Pope put Khalifa into the game with 11:58 remaining in the first half and sat back and watched magic happen.
Khalifa scored just five points in 27 minutes, but he pulled down nine rebounds and dished out five assists while contending with NC State's behemoth 6-foot-9, 275-pound center D.J. Burns. Without Traore or Atiki, the Cougars defeated the Wolfpack 95-86 to win the Vegas Showdown championship.
Barring a setback, BYU will get Traore back on Saturday for the Cougars Big 12 debut against 11-2 Cincinnati (8 p.m., ESPN2). Much has happened since he's been out, especially at his position, and remarkably BYU is in a better position for long-term success because of it.
As Khalifa's minutes have grown, so has his production. He not only moved into the starting lineup but has since climbed to the top of college basketball with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 14. Against Wyoming's pair of 7-foot and 6-10 defenders, Khalifa collected nine points, eight assists and five rebounds.
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Atiki had turned his game up a notch too. In the last two games alone, against Bellarmine and Wyoming, the Tanzania product has made 13 of 16 shots, grabbed 12 rebounds and energized the defense with four blocks. Atiki's 14 points against the Cowboys was a career high.
As a team, BYU is 7-1 since Traore went down and 12-1 overall — matching their best start since the 1987-88 season. The Cougars have climbed to No. 12 in this week's AP Top 25 poll and remain No. 2 in the NET rankings, which the NCAA Tournament selection committee uses to determine worthiness for the Big Dance.
With Atiki and Khalifa now working as interchangeable parts, and the BYU shooters firing on target, the operation is running clean: No. 6 in scoring offense (90.1); No. 11 in scoring defense (61); No. 1 in scoring margin (29); No. 1 in assists per game (22.2); No. 1 in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.25); No. 1 in 3-point shooting (12.2 per game); No. 2 in rebounding margin (13); No. 3 in bench scoring (40.50); and No. 3 in defending the 3-point shot (24.9).
How Traore is restored into the lineup and the impact it will have on the Cougars' substitution pattern is this week's challenge and it's a welcomed dilemma. The 6-foot-6 junior from Mali averaged 10.2 points and 5.5 rebounds in his first six games. He rejoins a roster with five teammates also averaging double figures.
Understandably, no one is happier to have Traore back than Pope, but in losing him over Thanksgiving in Las Vegas, the fifth-year head coach found his two other big men that, together with Traore, better BYU's chances in the Big 12 — starting Saturday.
BYU forward Atiki Ally Atiki dunks during the game against the Evansville Aces at the Marriott Center in Provo on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News
Dave McCann is a contributor to the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts "Y's Guys" at ysguys.com and is the author of the children's book "C is for Cougar," available at deseretbook.com .
