Cincinnati exploded to run past a struggling BYU team and notched a convincing 84-66 win Saturday night before a sellout crowd. The Bearcats left the Cougars searching for answers as to why fading on offense has become a fatal trend in two consecutive losses.
BYU head coach Kevin Young is running out of time to figure out why his team hits deadly scoring droughts, a feature prominent in straight losses to Arizona and Cincy.
"There are some things we can clean up from tonight," Young told a KSL-radio network audience afterward. "They had it going, obviously, but we've got to be able to regroup. We have a huge opportunity to put ourselves in a good spot going home, and we need to take advantage of it."
Young and company lost a big chance to solidify their NCAA Tournament chances against the Bearcats, with familiar warts showing up again. The Cougars didn't rebound well, went cold, didn't play hard in crunch time and watched an opponent simply run away with a win.
Cincinnati set Big 12 team highs for field goals and 3-point shooting against the Cougars, who beat the Bearcats by 28 in the Marriott Center two weeks ago.
This one was a reversal.
"Our offense really let us down in the second half," said Young. "Honestly in the first half, the fact that we were up three going to halftime I thought was pretty incredible given how the game was played out with the shot making display that they put on, and then they just kind of turned our water off in the second half, so we've got to really examine that in the film, but it was a disappointing effort by our (first) group in the second half, for sure."
Richie Saunders led BYU with 15 points, but as one of the Big 12's best 3-point shooters, he was just 1 for 5 from distance. Egor Demin was BYU's second leading scorer with 12, but he was 1 for 6 from beyond the arc.
Senior Trevin Knell had just three points, going 1 for 3 from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Mihailo Boskovic had eight and Dawson Baker nine off the bench. Keba Keita had eight.
No Cougar had more than three rebounds, and while Dallin Hall led the team with three assists, nobody else had more than two. Obviously BYU's passing was poor, ball movement was painfully awkward at times and the 12 turnovers were costly on the road.
This Quad 1 loss left the Cougars 15-8 overall and 6-6 in Big 12 play, while Cincinnati climbed to 14-9 and 4-8 in league play. The Cougars now go to West Virginia for a Tuesday game in search of a split on this road trip.
The Mountaineers beat Utah by 11 in Morgantown on Saturday.
This game mirrored aspects of BYU's loss to Arizona wherein the Cougar offense disappeared for a long stretch, dooming Young's squad.
Defensively, again, the Cougars allowed a shooter to go off on them.
BYU started the second half with a slight lead, then immediately turned the ball over three times as the Bearcats loaded up for a sizzling run the Cougars had no answer for.
Those misfires included multiple bad passes and then a shot clock violation as the Cougars struggled to get into a play set and had to settle for a harried chuck in the air.
BYU started the second half as if possessions were not valued, like they were taken for granted. Meanwhile, the other side was tuned up for a fight before the home crowd.
The Cougars led for just over four minutes in the first half after clawing back from being down nine to lead 42-39 at intermission. BYU got that lead with an 8-0 run over the last minute of play in the first half, accentuated by a 3-point bucket by Demin who was fouled and converted for a four-point play.
Cincinnati, on fire in a win at UFC earlier in the week, outshot BYU 63 to 53% in the first half but trailed by three because of BYU's 22-8 advantage in the paint and 6-0 advantage in fast break points.
Demin (10 points) and Saunders (13) led BYU scorers after the first 20 minutes.
Then the roof caved in on the Cougars. BYU went arctic cold as Cincinnati caught fire. The Bearcats outscored BYU 45-24 in the second half. The Cougars couldn't buy a basket for almost seven minutes after the break.
By then the home team had a 17-point lead built on a 22-2 run and they increased to as high as 21 in the 18-point win.
So ugly was BYU's offense and defense to start the first half, Young benched his starters and sent in Baker, Trey Stewart , Kanon Catchings , Boskovic and Hall.
That posse cut the lead to 66-58 with 8:06 left on back-to-back Catchings and Boskovic treys. Young said he loved Boskovic's effort in practice and he was reviewing how his post players were performing, hinting Boskovic may get a harder look if Young needed to shake things up.
The Bearcats, who scored 92 points at UCF after they'd established themselves as the worst offensive efficiency team in the Big 12, simply put BYU's defense in a wood chipper.
A very average 3-point shooter, Jizzle James hit 6 of 8 from distance — most of his team's 10 bombs — and nearly had a career high with his 24 points.
The Cougars were outrebounded by 15, displaying a fading trait that has been a strength for most of the season. The Bearcats beat BYU 16-0 on second-chance points, a stark failure in hustle for BYU's board soldiers.
Young said getting beat on rebounds was a product of one team wanting it more and playing tougher, and he praised the Bearcats for bringing that.
His guys didn't.
Boskovic said BYU played well against Arizona but the Wildcats came on strong and BYU didn't answer.
"This is our second loss in a row. It's not good," said the Serbian transfer. "But the whole season, we have shown that we can get back into it.
"You know, even after the last game, every time we tell ourselves, the coach tells us every time, to stay, stay with it. We're a great team. We have the talent to be there. We don't really think about (the loss) too much. We just want to get to the next game and show how we can win."
BYU coach Kevin Young looks on during loss to Cincinnati Saturday, Feb.8, 2025. | Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo
