Courtesy BYU Photo

Just like during most of the 2022-23 season, there are two teams wearing BYU uniforms.

Some games the Cougars were terrific, other games they were barely recognizable.

Friday’s stunning come-from-behind 82-71 victory against a hot Portland team was a microcosm of the season all in 40 minutes.

The “Bad Cougars” showed up in the first half and trailed by 13 points at halftime. The “Good Cougars” made a huge comeback in the second half, outscored the Pilots 52-28 and are moving on to the quarterfinals.

“The guys did an incredible job of actually executing on their own, simple play after simple play,” BYU coach Mark Pope said. “In the second half that fully changed the pace of the game.”

Courtesy BYU Photo

BYU turned things around dramatically in the second half, starting with stops on the defensive end that turned into points. Gideon George converted a 3-point play and 3-pointers from Jaxson Robinson — two of them — and Spencer Johnson were part of a spectacular 18-2 run that pushed the Cougars into a 48-45 lead with 15:55 to play.

“In the locker room at halftime, it was like, ‘Nothing is over,” freshman guard Richie Saunders said. “We didn’t just roll over. I think we came out and said, ‘This is not done. If we lose we go home and we’re not going home.'”

A 3-pointer by Dallin Hall gave BYU a 56-50 advantage and Hall fed George for another triple for a 63-54 BYU lead with 9:17 remaining.

The Cougars led by as many as ten points in the second half but Portland closed to within three, 72-69, with just over three minutes to go. Fousseyni Traore came up with a huge offensive rebound and Saunders scored on a reverse layup for a 76-69 BYU advantage with 1:40 remaining. Traore had a block on the defensive end and then grabbed two offensive rebounds before dunking the ball for a 78-69 lead at the one-minute mark.

Saunders scored a career high 18 points for BYU and added seven rebounds. Robinson had 14 points (all in the second half) and Traore also scored 14 points along with nine rebounds.

Courtesy BYU Photo

“You guys saw it,” Pope said. “We were stuck. You had a coach sitting over on the sidelines and he was stuck just like a big dummy. We were stuck as a team and Richie just said, ‘Just to keep us afloat, I’m just gonna raise up and make shots.’ That’s coming from a freshman in his first ever taste of March Madness, which is pretty exciting. He’s got an unbelievable motor and unbelievable work ethic and clearly he was huge for us tonight.”

Tyler Robertson led Portland (14-19) with 31 points. The Pilots, which made a WCC Tournament record 19 3-pointers in Thursday’s first round win against San Diego, finished just 9 of 30 (30%) from beyond the arc.

The first half was a disaster for BYU.

The Cougars turned the ball over nine times and at one point missed 12 straight shots. Spencer Johnson and Traore played limited minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, and Pope was forced to substitute frequently, playing 11 Cougars in the first 20 minutes.

Portland started slowly but made three straight triples for a 14-4 lead just five minutes into the game. Saunders came off the bench and sparked BYU on the offensive end, making 3 of 4 from the 3-point line. A free throw from Rudi Williams brought the Cougars within two, 27-25, at the 7:17 mark. But BYU fell apart the rest of the half, finishing 1 of 13 from the field. The Pilots outscored the Cougars 16-5 the rest of the way and led 43-30 at halftime.

Courtesy BYU Photo

Saunders finished the first half with 12 points but no one else had more than five as BYU was simply atrocious on offense, shooting just 9 of 28 (32%) overall, 5 of 19 (26%) from the 3-point line and 7 of 13 (54%) from the foul line.

Everything changed in the second half.

“Portland capitalized over and over again on 50-50 balls in the first half,” Pope said. “It was messy for us offensively, but we had a chance to go win if we did that. Our guys completely changed that in the second half. That’s been the identity of this team. When we’ve been successful, we’ve been the team winning those 50-50 balls.”

BYU (18-14) will play No. 4 seed Loyola Marymount (19-11) in the quarterfinals on Saturday at 8 p.m. MT on ESPN2. The two teams split the regular season series with the Lions winning 64-59 in Los Angeles and the Cougars rolling to an 89-61 victory in Provo.

“It (LMU) is a great team,” Pope said. “It’s a veteran team with one of the top guards overall (Cameron Shelton) with huge size. But Richie Saunders, he loves Vegas. He had a big-time game against Creighton when we were here last time so we expect him to be 18 and seven every single time in Vegas.”

Courtesy BYU Photo

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