No. 20 BYU remains hungry to add to a successful inaugural Big 12 season when the fifth-seeded Cougars face 12th-seeded UCF Wednesday in the second round of the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City, Mo.
Few teams exceeded preseason expectations more than did BYU.
The Cougars (22-9) won 10 games against league opponents and tied for fifth place with Kansas while leading the Big 12 with 82.2 points per game.
BYU was picked to finish 13th by the league’s coaches during the preseason and quickly embraced an underdog determination to prove doubters wrong.
“I do think we have a bunch of guys who are hungry on the chase right now,” BYU coach Mark Pope said. “And I’ve really enjoyed that so far through the regular season. We’re not going to change anything for the postseason. We’re still on a heavy, heavy chase.”
BYU found a winning formula with an explosive offense that emphasized making extra passes and knocking down tons of perimeter baskets. The Cougars made 10 or more 3-pointers in 20 games this season and knocked down 12 from beyond the arc in an 85-71 win over Oklahoma State to wrap up the regular season Saturday.
Jaxson Robinson leads the way from the perimeter, with 70 3-pointers forming a huge part of his team-leading 13.9 points per game. Robinson, who earned Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year honors, ranks fourth among Big 12 players in made 3-pointers.
Fellow BYU guard Trevin Knell ranks second in the Big 12 in 3-point field-goal percentage, knocking down 39.2 percent of his attempts per game.
Aly Khalifa emerged as one of the league’s more prolific and efficient passers this season. Khalifa leads the Big 12 with a 3.6 assist-to-turnover ratio.
“Being in the Big 12 requires you to play that much harder, be that more consistent, be smarter all about the little things that matter,” Robinson said.
Wednesday’s second-round clash will mark the third meeting between BYU and UCF this season. The winner will advance to play No. 4 seed Texas Tech in the Big 12 quarterfinals Thursday.
The Knights dispatched Oklahoma State 77-62 in the first round Tuesday to earn the rematch with the Cougars. Ibrahima Diallo led a balanced UCF attack with a career-high 17 points and 11 rebounds.
UCF (17-14) opened the second half on an 18-1 run and held the Cowboys without a field goal for eight minutes to put the game out of reach. The Knights never trailed over the game’s final 24 minutes, hit 9-of-18 from 3-point range and scored 17 points off 13 Oklahoma State turnovers.
“The second half was one of the best defensive efforts to start a half we have had since I’ve been coaching at UCF,” Knights coach Johnny Dawkins said.
BYU won both regular-season meetings, beating UCF 63-58 in Orlando and 90-88 in Provo, Utah.
–Field Level Media