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BYU's Atiki Ally Atiki, left, and Trey Stewart arrive at the rim together during a men's college basketball game at the Marriott Center against Bellarmine on Friday, Dec. 22, 2023. Ally Atiki was credited with a dunk on the play.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Noah Waterman (0) greets teammate Spencer Johnson during a men's college basketball game against Bellarmine at the Marriott Center on Friday, Dec. 22, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Aly Khalifa (50) takes a 3-pointer during a men's college basketball game against Bellarmine at the Marriott Center on Friday, Dec. 22, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Richie Saunders (15) and Atiki Ally Atiki defend a shot by Bellarmine's Hatton Langdon during a men's college basketball game at the Marriott Center on Friday, Dec. 22, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Dawson Baker dribbles between two Bellarmine defenders during a men's college basketball game at the Marriott Center on Friday, Dec. 22, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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What was your “Y” for coming to the BYU-Bellarmine men’s basketball game on Friday?

If you were the guy who won a car by making three 3-pointers during a time out in the second half (courtesy of Ken Garff), that ended up being a pretty good reason for showing up for another preseason Cougar blowout in the Marriott Center.

The rest of you were probably just looking to get out of the house (since the kids are out of school and underfoot) or tired of wrapping Christmas presents. Maybe you were there for the debut of freshman sensation Marcus Adams Jr., or somebody gave you tickets and you were craving a Cougar Tail.

In any case, No. 17 BYU drilled the Knights 101-59 in front of an announced crowd of 14,429 to move to 11-1 this season and there were plenty of things fans left talking about.

Six Cougars reached double figures, led by Spencer Johnson, Trevin Knell and Richie Saunders with 14 points apiece. Noah Waterman scored 13, Atiki Ally Atiki tied a career high with 12 (on 6 of 6 shooting) and Dawson Baker had 10. Johnson added eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals to his total.

BYU shot 58% from the field (40 of 69) and 41% (16 of 39) from the 3-point line while outrebounding Bellarmane 41-18. The 16 triples is a season high. The Cougars earned a 28-3 advantage in points off turnovers (from 13 miscues by the Knights) and held a 26-3 lead in fast break points.

You want more stats? BYU — the No. 1 team in the country in assist-to-turnover margin — assisted on 29 of 40 baskets and had just nine turnovers.

The week before Christmas is always bit chaotic for BYU players with finals interrupting practice schedules along with a flu bug and various injuries that actually kept the Cougars top two scorers, Fousseyni Traore and Jaxson Robinson, on the bench in street clothes.

None of those distractions had any effect on the team’s performance on Friday.

“This team is special, this team is different,” said Knell, who scored all 14 of his point during the first seven minutes of the second half. “When it’s time to go, it’s time to go. I think we love to keep the standard. This team is really disciplined. How they (Bellarmine) ran their offense was a little different than what we’re kind of accustomed to guarding. But I feel like our guys were really ready to go. We got really excited whenever we finished finals. It’s always a glorious time. But when it’s time to step over and cross the white lines, it’s go time. I feel like we’re really a mature team this year.”

Bellarmine’s deliberate, patterned offense produced some early layups and the visitors got out to a 10-5 lead in the first four minutes. The Cougars then erupted on a 16-2 run, keyed by six points off the bench by Atiki, for a 21-12 advantage. BYU ended the first half on a 9-2 burst, which included the play of the game: Baker stole the ball and took off on the break, going behind his back twice to avoid Knight defenders. He got the ball up ahead to Johnson, who lobbed it to the basket. Atiki outleaped his own teammate (Trey Stewart) for the alley-oop dunk that revved up the faithful in the Marriott Center.

BYU led 42-28 and Knell started hot in the second half, dropping in three triples including a 4-point play as the Cougars extended their lead to 26, 70-44, at the 12:43 mark.

Adams, a four-star recruit who became eligible to play due to a recent lawsuit against the NCAA, played eight minutes in his debut, scoring two points (on 1 of 6 from the field) and grabbing two rebounds.

“I loved it,” BYU coach Mark Pope said. “I actually thought he made a couple of really intelligent communication reads on defense, and I love that he was absolutely fearless on the offensive end, clearly. I like young guys that are fearless. This is a high school senior right now, who is on his third school in six months and got the surprise call that he was going to be able to play this year and walked down on the court with eight minutes left in front of 15,000 fans for the first time in his life. And for him to walk out there and be fearless is really great. And he’s gonna have a great future. He’s got a lot of growing to do, but he’s gonna do it.”

Garrett Tipton led Bellarmine (4-10) with 21 points.

BYU is taking some rare days off for Christmas and will be back at practice on Wednesday. The Cougars conclude their preseason schedule on Saturday against former Mountain West Conference foe Wyoming in the Marriott Center.

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