Most college basketball teams open their seasons with lower division opponents or games where they are highly favored.

Not Mark Pope and BYU.

The Cougars open with three NCAA Tournament teams from 2020 – Cleveland State, San Diego State and Oregon. On Tuesday, BYU pulled away late against the Vikings in a very competitive contest.

“I’m going to get fired soon because all I want to do is to be as challenged as we can and to get as good as we can as fast as we can,” Pope said. “So it’s not smart to schedule this game (Cleveland State) first. It’s not smart to schedule San Diego State second and it’s not smart to schedule Oregon third. But we’re going to do it and who knows if we’ll make it through or not. But it’s going to show us how we need to get better and we’re so anxious to know how we need to get better.

“There’s a ton of value in this, a ton of value to learn to deal with adversity. You know, we had a we had a not positive practice yesterday (Monday). I had a bad practice. We had a little segment in the practice that was really bad for our guys. And then they were able to fix it. And that actually turned it into a great practice.”

Expect more adversity and growth on Friday in the Marriott Center against the Aztecs. In the past two meetings – 2019 in Provo and 2020 at Montezuma Mesa – the visiting team has won.

“I remember we got a win,” BYU’s Spencer Johnson said when asked about last year’s meeting. “We can do it again this year. They’re a good team. I mean, they’re defensive scheme was really good. And we kind of we punched them in the mouth coming out and they tried to creep back on us. We came out with a win in the end. So it’s gonna be really fun. Plus, there were no fans there last year. It was an empty gym so it was a little weird.”

BYU led by as many as 17 points against San Diego State last season and still held a 14-point advantage with five minutes to play. Matt Mitchell (35 points) led a stirring comeback to tie the game at 61 with just under two minutes remaining.

The Cougars prevailed 72-62 thanks to a big 3-pointer from Brandon Averette and a key steal by Johnson in the waning moments of the game.

Mitchell has graduated but the Aztecs are still loaded with talent, including Cal transfer Matt Bradley, who averaged better than 18 points a game for the Bears last season. Bradley had 23 points in SDSU’s season opener, a 66-53 victory against UC Riverside.

While many upper-echelon teams avoid coming to Provo to play, Pope said San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher was anxious to continue to series with the Cougars.

“I love this matchup,” Pope said. “It was so devastating when we lost here two years ago. And then it was such a rush when we got to win there last year. They’re good, and they’re physical, and they guard and they’re long and they’re just a problem. Every year we’ve played them we’ve learned so much about our team and it’s given us a chance to get way better.”

Missing a leader

BYU will be without starting center Richard Harward indefinitely, according to Pope.

In the exhibition game against Colorado Christian, Harward came out of the game early and apparently fainted on the bench. He was not in uniform against Cleveland State.

“So he’s got a cardiovascular issue right now that he’s gonna be out for at least a little while,” Pope said. “It’s going to kind of be like every week checking back in and seeing how he does. It’s super devastating for him. He’s in the best shape of his life playing the best basketball of his life and is the emotional leader of this entire team for the last two years. His emotional leadership is even a bigger loss than his body on the floor. And so we miss him. We’re hoping he gets back as soon as possible. We just don’t know. We have no idea. It could be days, weeks months, we’re just not sure.”

In the meantime, Pope will go with a rotation of Gavin Baxter, freshman Fousseyni Traore, Caleb Lohner and possibly another freshman, Atiki Ally Atiki, in the middle.

Shooting for more

Senior Alex Barcello was a perfect 13 of 13 from the foul line against Cleveland State. He said he put in a lot of work during the summer to improve every aspect of his game.

Last year Barcello led the team in scoring (16.1 points per game) while shooting 52 percent from the field, 48 percent from the 3-point line and 86 percent from the foul line.

“I believe that you’re supposed to be a 50-40-90 guy and I was below 90 on the free throw line last year,” he said. “So I just tried to improve on that. But mainly I was just trying to be better for my team on the defensive end and then protecting the ball on the offensive end as a point guard. I was just trying to work on all those areas but definitely free throws was on the main priority list this summer.”

In 2021, only one player – Virginia’s Trey Murphy III – managed to make the 50-40-90 club. Since 1993 only 11 players have accomplished that feat, according to NCAA.com.

Men’s College Basketball

San Diego State (1-0) at BYU (1-0)

Friday, 7 p.m. MT

Marriott Center, Provo

TV: BYUtv

Radio: BYU Radio, Sirius XM 143/BYU radio app, KSL 1160 AM/102.7 FM

Live stats: byucougars.com

The Word: BYU leads the overall series 49-26. … The Cougars and Aztecs have split the past two meetings. San Diego State won 76-71 at Provo in 2019 and BYU earned a 72-62 victory in San Diego last season. … The Aztecs defeated UC Riverside 66-53 in their season opener while the Cougars topped Cleveland State 69-59. … BYU’s Gideon George is sponsoring a shoe drive in conjunction with Timeout for Africa and BYU Global Supply Chain Management. Fans are encouraged to bring lightly used or new shoes, as well as other school supplies such as backpacks, to the game on Friday for donation.

BYU_PHOTO BYU’s Te’Jon Lucas passes the ball in a men’s college basketball game against Cleveland State at the Marriott Center on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. (BYU Courtesy Photo)

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