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From left, BYU's Fousseyni Traore, Dallin Hall, Richie Saunders and Spencer Johnson enjoy their big lead in a game against Southeastern Louisiana at the Marriott Center on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Jaxson Robinson (2) dribbles against Southeastern Louisiana in a men's college basketball game at the Marriott Center on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Atiki Ally Atiki blocks a shot attempt by Southeastern Louisiana's Alec Woodard during a men's college basketball game at the Marriott Center on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Spencer Johnson drives to the basket against Southeastern Louisiana during a men's college basketball game at the Marriott Center on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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BYU's Trey Stewart drives past Southeastern Louisiana's Avery Wilson during a men's college basketball game at the Marriott Center on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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BYU's Richie Saunders sails in for a layup during a men's college basketball game against Southeastern Louisiana at the Marriott Center on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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BYU's Atiki Ally Atiki dunks the ball during a men's college basketball game against Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Noah Waterman defends against Southeastern Louisiana in a men's college basketball game at the Marriott Center on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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BYU's Fousseyni Traore launches a 3-pointer in a men's college basketball game against Southeastern Louisiana at the Marriott Center on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Mark Pope motions for a sub during a men's college basketball game against Southeastern Louisiana at the Marriott Center on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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With a preseason game scheduled against Southland Conference preseason favorite Southeastern Louisiana, the BYU men’s basketball team was expecting a good test on Wednesday.

That would be a fail.

The Lions put up little fight, falling behind by 28 points midway through the first half and the Cougars moved to 3-0 with an easy 105-48 blowout victory at the Marriott Center in front of an announced crowd of 13,116.

For those running out of fingers and toes to count on, that’s a 57-point win. It’s also the second time in three preseason games that BYU has scored more than 100 points.

“I feel like our team is playing well together,” Cougar junior forward Fousseyni Traore said. “I feel like since our Europe trip my team has gotten super close to each other and is like family, a brotherhood, you know? And I feel like even on the court, we always know we have each other’s backs.”

The Cougars depth and 3-point shooting did SELA in from the start and the home team led by as many as 58 points in the game in cruising to an easy night.

Trevin Knell and Traore scored 18 points each for BYU, with Knell making 4 of 8 from the 3-point line. Jaxson Robinson added 17 points for the Cougars, which made 15 of 36 (42%) from the 3-point line. Spencer Johnson had 11 points, five rebounds and six assists. BYU forced 15 turnovers and outscored the Lions 23-2 on points off of turnovers. The Cougars assisted on 28 of their 37 baskets as well.

Roger McFarland led Southeastern Louisiana (1-2) with 14 points.

The Cougars picked up a big win last Friday, taking down No. 17 San Diego State. The chance for a letdown against SELA was a real thing.

“We had a really emotional game on Friday,” BYU coach Mark Pope said. “And we’re been going really long and hard (in practice). We had an opponent (SELA) that is picked to win their conference, but certainly did not come in here with the cache that a San Diego State did. And there’s just this human nature of a letdown. The leaders of our team and all the player on our team did an unbelievable job of saying that they were going to take this game incredibly seriously.

“The first priority was to win this game and the second priority, equally as important, is we know we have to get better and these guys were incredible.”

Seven points from Johnson and five from Traore, including a 3-pointer, pushed BYU out to a 14-4 lead in the first five minutes of the game.

Then things got ugly for the Lions, which trailed at Auburn last week by just seven with seven minutes remaining and lost by 15 (86-71).

BYU scored 21 consecutive points in what would be a 27-3 run, leading 32-4 midway through the first half. The Cougars drained five 3-pointers in the run, including three by Trevin Knell, and shut down the Lions on the defensive end. Roscoe Eastmond finally ended a nearly seven-minute drought for SELA with a basket but the BYU lead kept growing. The largest Cougar advantage was 38 points, 52-14, on a basket by Knell with under two minutes left in the half. If BYU hadn’t been so generous with fouls, the Lions wouldn’t have scored much at all and trailed 52-17 at the break.

A balanced Cougar attack was led by Traore and Knell with 11 points each, followed by Robinson with 10 and Johnson and Saunders with nine points each. BYU was 8 of 20 (40%) from the 3-point line and outrebounded SELA 28 to 14.

The Lions were just 5 of 25 (20%) from the field in the first half and 0-for-8 from beyond the arc.

The second half was plenty more of the same. A 9-0 burst for BYU, with seven of those points coming from Trey Stewart, pushed the lead to 40 points (63-23) with 15:30 to play. Later, Knell swished a 3-pointer and after a BYU steal lofted a pass to Atiki Ally Atiki for an alley-oop slam and a 66-28 advantage with 13:56 remaining.

Another barrage of 3-pointers — on each from Dallin Hall, Robinson and Traore, the first multiple 3-point game of his career — made it 84-37. The lead reached 49 points, 88-39, on consecutive layups from Robinson and Hall with eight minutes left.

Dallin Hall lobbed a pass to Atiki for another alley-oop throwdown with 3:10 and Atiki scored down low for a 99-44 lead with 1:42 to play. Jared McGregor’s step-back 3-pointer lifted the Cougars past 100 points at 102-46 with 1:30 mercifully left on the clock.

“I thought our offense was good,” Pope said. “We only turned the ball over five times and we’re really proud of that. We came into halftime with only two and both were on offensive fouls. So the guys did an unbelievable job of protecting the ball. I don’t really know how to evaluate whether this was our most complete game. I know there are a bunch of numbers we were super excited about.”

Next up for BYU (3-0) is a home game Saturday evening (7 p.m. MT) against Morgan State from the Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference.

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