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BYU can’t come back from poor start, loses to South Dakota

By Darnell Dickson - | Dec 3, 2022

Courtesy BYU Photo

BYU's Rudi Williams crashes between a pair of South Dakota defenders during a men's college basketball game at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City on Saturday, December 3, 2022.

SALT LAKE CITY — BYU rallied from a 21-point second half deficit against South Dakota on Saturday at Vivid Arena, taking possession down by one point with six seconds to play.

Rudi Williams raced down the floor and launched a 3-pointer to beat the buzzer that fell far short of the target.

It figures.

Saturday’s surprising 69-68 loss to the Coyotes isn’t hard to define: BYU has itself a problem making shots behind the line.

The Cougars, who made a school-record 19 3-pointers in Tuesday’s victory against Westminster, missed their first 12 attempts from beyond the arc on Saturday and finished a stunningly awful 7 of 33 (21%). Any one of those misses could have made the difference as BYU held South Dakota without a field goal for the final 10:12 of the game but still couldn’t catch the Coyotes.

It was the second time in three games the Cougars have fallen behind by 20-plus points in the second half.

“We’re not a very good team right now and we’re not a very tough team right now,” BYU coach Mark Pope said. “But we’re working on it. We’ve just got to grow.”

Williams scored a season-high 20 points to lead BYU (5-4) and freshman Dallin Hall added a career-best 14 points and six assists. Fousseyni Traore notched a double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds) and the Cougars forced 20 turnovers, nabbing 11 steals.

Kruz Perrott-Hunt led South Dakota (5-4) with 26 points on 4 of 5 from the 3-point line and 8 of 8 from the foul line. The Coyotes made 8 of 13 (62%) from distance in the first half and finished a healthy 12 of 23 (52%).

The game was tied at 12 with 12:41 to play in the first half when the Coyotes found their range, hitting their next six 3-point attempts. The Cougars, meanwhile, just kept on missing and the visitors lead kept growing, moving to 27-16 on a triple from Perrott-Hunt.

BYU trailed 32-21 when Jaxson Robinson finally broke the seal off the rim, making the Cougars’ first 3-pointer in 13 tries. But South Dakota got shots beyond the arc from Paul Bruns and Mihai Carcoana and a basket from Perot-Hunt to extend its advantage to 19 points, 40-21, with 1:55 to play in the half. BYU managed a couple of baskets to trail 40-25 at the break.

At one point, the Coyotes made six consecutive 3-point shots as they ran circles around the Cougar defense. BYU, meanwhile, made just 1 of 14 (7%) from beyond the arc in the first half.

Fousseyni Traore led BYU with eight points on 4 of 5 from the field but with his teammates clanging shot after shot off the rim South Dakota stayed packed it in and continued to send extra defenders at Traore to limit his opportunities.

The Coyotes extended their lead to 20, 49-29, with 16:17 to play on a 9-0 run. With 10:12 remaining, Bruns connected on his third 3-point shot to give the visitors a commanding 21-point lead, 60-39. That would be the last basket South Dakota would score, though it would make 9 of 14 from the free throw line.

BYU turned up the defensive heat and crept closer and closer. The Cougars got the deficit under ten points at 62-53 on a basket by Traore with 6:03 to go. A late 7-0 run, with Traore making a couple of clutch free throws, trimmed the Coyote lead to 67-64 with 23.2 seconds to play. After a pair of free throws for South Dakota made the score 69-64 with 18.2 second remaining, Hall made a layup and was fouled. He missed the free throw, but the Coyotes deflected the ball out of bounds and BYU got it back down three points. Williams made two free throws with 7.5 seconds showing on the clock to close to 69-68.

The Cougars fouled Bruns and he missed both foul shots. Out of time outs, BYU’s only hope was improvisation by Williams but he opted to throw up a long, contested 3-pointer instead of driving to the basket and South Dakota — with a NET ranking in the low 200s — escaped with a big victory.

“Certainly a disappointing outcome for us and a lot of frustration, but I’m really proud of our guys for playing hard and competing hard in the second half,” Pope said. “There’s a learning curve for learning the price of winning, and we’re in the muck of trying to learn those lessons.”

The Cougars had won 17 straight games in the home of the Utah Jazz, dating back to a 2004 loss to Michigan State.

BYU (5-4) will host cross town rival Utah Valley in the Marriott Center on Wednesday. The Wolverines won last year’s game at Orem 72-65 in overtime. On Saturday, UVU (4-4) picked up a big win at home against Long Beach State 88-78.

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