BYU will look to open the season with six consecutive victories for the second time in three seasons when it faces North Carolina State on Friday night in the championship game of the Vegas Showdown in Las Vegas.
The Cougars reached the title game by annihilating Arizona State 77-49 on Thursday night. North Carolina State (4-0) advanced with an 84-78 win over Vanderbilt.
The Wolfpack are looking for their first 5-0 start since winning six straight to begin the 2018-19 season.
BYU’s Noah Waterman will try to build on his superb showing against Arizona State, when he produced career bests of 24 points and six 3-pointers.
The Cougars figure to be without Atiki Ally Atiki after the 6-foot-10 post player from Tanzania delivered a left-handed punch to the face of Arizona State’s Akil Watson with 33.8 seconds remaining. Waterman was ejected for leaving the bench but isn’t expected to be suspended for the Friday game.
“I understand the instinct of all our guys to want to have their guy’s back,” BYU coach Mark Pope said. “Universally we love Atiki so much like we love every guy on this team. And so when there is a little scuffle, everyone’s instinct is to go help. We have to be really great at fighting that instinct because the consequences are pretty dire. Hopefully we will have a full team intact (Friday night).”
The incident occurred after a scramble for a rebound in which the two players tumbled to the ground.
North Carolina State led for more than 30 minutes during its triumph over Vanderbilt.
The Wolfpack were ahead 60-43 with 11:36 remaining before the Commodores sliced into the margin.
“We had some adversity. We had some highs and lows, started slow, finished strong,” NC State coach Kevin Keatts said. “Our guys competed, and it was a really good game for us.”
Freshman Dennis Parker Jr. had season highs of 18 points and nine rebounds and Jayden Taylor also scored 18 points for the Wolfpack.
“As a freshman, 18 years old, it could be hard for a head coach to trust somebody out there playing at the highest level of college basketball,” Parker said. “I’m just grateful for my opportunity, and I just want to keep on building on this.”
Taylor and DJ Burns Jr. share the team lead with a 14.3 scoring average. Jaxson Robinson leads BYU with a 13.8 average.
NC State is 4-0 all-time against the Cougars. The most recent meeting was on Dec. 21, 2004, when the Wolfpack notched a 72-61 road win.
–Field Level Media