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The BYU men's basketball team gathers around head coach Mark Pope during practice at the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City on Tuesday, March 12, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU junior Fousseyni Traore stretches before practice at the Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament in Kansas City on Tuesday, March 12, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For the BYU men’s basketball team, the whole season has been all about the chase.

The chase continues in the postseason.

There are plenty of distractions for the Cougars as they head into their first Big 12 Tournament. They arrived Monday, practiced Tuesday and took in the first round games to find out their second round opponent.

Turns out it is UCF, a team BYU has beaten twice during the regular season. The No. 12 seed Knights led No. 13 Oklahoma State 35-21 at halftime and erupted on an 18-1 run to open the second half on their way to a convincing 77-62 victory.

In the other first round game, No. 11 seed Cincinnati rallied past No. 14 seed West Virginia for 90-85 win and plays No. 6 Kansas in the second round.

BYU is the No. 5 seed in the Big 12 Tournament and according to all the metrics, is a lock for an invitation to the NCAA Tournament. Securing a Top 5 seed for the NCAA’s is within the Cougars’ grasp with a likely opportunity to play the first two rounds in Salt Lake City.

Heady stuff for a team picked to finish 13th out of 14 by Big 12 coaches in the preseason.

“We’ve had a chip on our shoulder all year,” BYU sophomore guard Dallin Hall said. “People told us we can’t and counted us out. It was all stacked up, piled up and put to the side. We’ve proved everybody wrong all year.”

The Cougars finished fifth in the West Coast Conference last season but a fifth-place finish in the Big 12 carries a lot more weight –and took a lot more effort.

“Obviously (the difference) is the competition,” said BYU’s Jaxson Robinson, who won the Big 12 Sixth Man award. “Being in the Big 12 requires you to play that much harder. You have to be that more consistent, be smarter all about the little things that matter. I just felt like it came with the experience of us playing together for a year, getting to know each other and being around each other on that Europe trip really helped us in the summer. I think it paid huge dividends showing on the court, moving the ball. Finding the open man is something that we always practice and it’s all paying off.

“I know there’s been a lot of ups and downs this season but something that Coach always reiterates with our team is how we always come back the next day regardless of what happened the day before. It’s paid off huge this season.”

Now that the grueling conference regular-season schedule is done, the Cougars can focus on putting together consecutive strong performances in the post-season.

“This league for us is all about the chase,” BYU coach Mark Pope said. I wish they had picked us 14th because I think it actually helped these guys focus in towards each other. It kind of works to consolidate our group. We have a bunch of guys that are hungry on the chase right now and have really enjoyed that so far through the regular season. We’re not going to change anything for the post-season. We’re still on a heavy, heavy chase and we’re going to continue that. These guys are so special, man. We’re just desperate to play as many more games and we can because we don’t want it to end.”

If the Cougars can get past UCF on Wednesday they would face No. 4 seed Texas Tech, a team they lost to in Lubbock 85-78 after leading by as many as 17 points in the first half.

“Every single game we play in this Big 12 tournament is going to be an elite level game,” Pope said. “Were just focusing on playing good basketball. At this point they’re just loving playing together and wanting to keep playing. think that’s how the guys feel. We have some confidence and a ton of humility. That’s how we’ve felt all season long.”

Men’s College Basketball

Big 12 Tournament, second round

No. 5 seed BYU (22-9) vs. No. 12 UCF (17-14)

Wednesday, 10:30 a.m. MT

T-Mobile Center in Kansas City

TV: ESPN2

Streaming: ESPN.com

Radio: Sirius XM 143/BYU Radio.org/BYU Radio app/KSL 102.7 FM/1160 AM

Live stats: byucougars.com

The Word: UCF defeated No. 13 seed Oklahoma State 77-62 in a first round game on Tuesday. … BYU beat the Knights twice this season, winning in Orlando 63-58 and in Provo 90-88. … The winner faces No. 4 seed Texas Tech in the quarterfinals on Thursday. … The Cougars rank second in the nation in 3-point field goals (11.3) and attempts (32.2).

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