Despite losing two of its best big men and rebounders to injury last season (6-foot-11 Richard Harward and 6-9 Gavin Baxter), BYU ended up being a pretty good rebounding team.

The Cougars finished 21st in the country in total rebounds per game (39.29), led by freshman Fousseyni Traore (8.5 per game), Caleb Lohner (6.4) and Gideon George (5.0).

An offseason of roster maneuvering brought 12 new players to the BYU roster, but the only big (6-11 Noah Waterman) is more of a stretch four. With Lohner transferring to Baylor, Baxter at Utah and Harward retiring from basketball, that leaves Traore, George and rising sophomore Atiki Ally Atiki to do the heavy lifting on the boards.

With the emphasis on higher tempo, rebounding will be a big key for the Cougars this season.

“We’ve been really focused on rebounding the last week,” BYU coach Mark Pope said after the Blue and White Game. “We made a really hard push on the glass which I thought we were just okay today. I thought we were pretty aggressive on the offensive glass. We were probably better there than on the defensive glass. I felt like we really been focusing on our thrust. I thought it kind of came and went which is exactly what we would expect. Our thrust is kind of our goal to get the ball across half court. We have specific time we’re shooting for after a make after a miss and after turnover.”

Pope said the team is still working on the balance between pushing the ball and taking good shots.

“One of the great things about learning the game of basketball is that you can sit down in the classroom as long as you want to talk,” Pope said. “It’s really experiential learning, right? Because you have to learn. It’s almost like it’s got to be five senses learning, you’re making so many reads on the floor. And you’re thinking about so many different things.

“And so when we talk about the pace of play, that basically if we do it right, it (getting great shots) is always going to be high. It’s just going to be our agenda. It’s going to really refine itself with great pace finding and utilizing every opportunity we can start so when other teams rotate we punish them for it. That’s that’s the goal, at least. We’ll see how it goes.”

SCOUTING REPORT

The Cougars open the 2022-23 season with an exhibition game against the Ottawa (Ariz.) Spirit, a very young NAIA school that began competition in 2017. Last season, Ottawa won a school-record 25 games and qualified for the NAIA Tournament for the first time, losing to College of Idaho 57-52 in the second round. Senior forward Josiah De’laCerda (17 points, 7.2 rebounds per game) earned honorable mention All-American honors for coach Matt Keeley and returns. The Spirit also bring back three other double-digit scorers in 5-9 senior guard Kam Malbrough (12.4 ppg), 6-2 senior guard Keshawn Bruner (11.4) and 6-4 junior guard Jayce Catchings (10.3).

In 2019 — Pope’s first year at BYU — the Cougars routed UT Tyler 100-58 in the exhibition opener. The 2020 opener was against Westminster but not an exhibition. BYU blasted the Griffins 108-59. Last season, the exhibition opener was a closer-than-expected 63-45 victory against Colorado Christian.\

Men’s College Basketball

Ottawa (Ariz.) at BYU

(Exhibition Game)

Wednesday, 7 p.m. MT

Marriott Center, Provo

TV: BYUtv

Radio: BYU Radio.org/BYU Radio app

Live stats: byucougars.com

The Word: Ottawa (Ariz.), an NAIA school. … The Spirit won a school-record 25 games last season and qualified for the NAIA Tournament for the first time. … Senior forward Josiah De’laCerda averaged 17 points per game last season and was named an honorable mention NAIA All-American. … Likely starters for the Cougars are Coastal Carolina transfer Rudi Williams, sophomore Fousseyni Traore, senior Gideon George, Arkansas transfer Jaxson Robinson and sophomore Trey Stewart.

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