No. 21 BYU fades in second half, loses at Oklahoma 82-66
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- BYU’s Atiki Ally Atiki soars in for a dunk during a Big 12 men’s basketball game at Oklahoma on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024.
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- BYU’s Jaxson Robinson dribbles the ball against Oklahoma in a Big 12 men’s college basketball game on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024.
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- BYU’s Jaxson Robinson takes a jump shot against Oklahoma during a Big 12 men’s basketball game on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024.
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- BYU’s Fousseyni Traore takes a shot over Oklahoma’s Jalon Moore during a Big 12 men’s basketball game on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024.
Oklahoma’s game plan was simple: Stick to BYU’s 3-point shooters.
That meant Cougar forward Fousseyni Traore was left to go one-on-one in the post, and the junior produced 21 points. But BYU missed a boatload of other shots inside the arc and that proved costly in an 82-66 loss to the Sooners in Norman on Tuesday.
Give up a two or give up threes? Oklahoma chose the twos, and as a wise man once said, it’s a math problem.
Nothing added up for the Cougars. Credit Oklahoma’s defense or blame BYU’s lack of depth due to illness or fatigue from playing back-to-back Big 12 road games, but the result was the Cougars worst loss in Big 12 play this season.
“It was not for lack trying, but we just didn’t play very well,” Cougar coach Mark Pope told the BYU Sports Network. “Credit to Oklahoma with a really unique game plan from the way they’ve been playing. They showed a very different defensive package tonight than they have all season. And we weren’t great. I felt like we couldn’t find the answers we needed defensively. And there was some frustration on the offensive end that was carrying over to the defensive end.”
After taking back the lead in the second half, the Sooners outscored the Cougars 43-24 over the final 16 minutes of the game.
BYU went 8 of 26 from the 3-point line (31%) but five of those misses came in the final two minutes in desperation time. The Cougars were 15 of 38 (39%) inside the arc, a combination of tired legs and missed bunnies just two games after shooting nearly 80% on two-point shots in a win against Texas.
Dallin Hall finished with 17 points on 4 of 7 3-pointers and had five assists, but the Cougars offense ground to a halt way too often, especially in the second half.
Javian McCollum led Oklahoma (17-6 overall, 5-5 Big 12) with 20 points, and Milos Uzan added 16. The Sooners were 23 of 29 (79%) from the free throw line, including 18 of 21 in the second half and shot 59% (13 of 22) from the field in the second 20-minutes.
BYU went to Traore early and often in the first half and the big man responded with 11 points on 5 of 9 shooting. A stunning alley-oop from Hall to Atiki Ally Atiki gave the Cougars an early 6-4 lead and the game stayed close with nine lead changes and six ties. Two scores inside by Traore and a jumper from Jaxson Robinson gave the Cougars a 23-18 lead with 6:55 to go. Hall got hot and banged in three consecutive 3-pointers to help BYU to as much as a six-point advantage, but the Cougars went cold in the final 3:35 and didn’t score a single point while going 0-for-7 from the field. Uzan broke easily through the BYU defense for a late layup to tie the game at 34 at halftime.
Uzan had nine first-half points and was one of five Sooners who made a 3-point field goal.
BYU led 42-38 with 16:07 to play but all the missed shots inside the arc started to catch up with the Cougars. Oklahoma went on a 15-4 run, with 3-pointers from 5 14 and Uzan, to turn around a deficit to a 53-46 lead with 8:45 to play and dominated the rest of the way.
BYU once again played without starting center Aly Khalifa, who stayed in Provo due to illness.
“I do believe there’s karma and a rhythm to this game and you just feel that stuff progresses towards the mean,” Pope said. “We’ve been on this insane side of this where we’re kind of wondering minute to minute who’s going to be available. We’re hopeful we’ll have regression to the healthy mean and that bodes really well for us moving forward. There’s so much to do that is controllable and in our hands.”
The Cougars (16-6, 4-5) will host Kansas State on Saturday in the Marriott Center.
