Last season under Mark Pope, the BYU men’s basketball team launched the most 3-pointer field goals in the country (1,087), an average of 32 attempted triples per game.

In last week’s 93-49 exhibition win against Division II Colorado Christian, the Cougars were 18 of 38 (47%) from beyond the arc, including 12 of 21 (57%) in the second half.

New coach Justin Young was one of the top NBA assistants last season and his specialty is offense.

It’s safe to say BYU fans will once again see plenty of 3-pointers go up in 2024-25.

“The thing I would say is that they’re both a very advanced way of basketball,” senior guard Dawson Baker said. “Coach Young, I think he would say himself, he loves 3-pointers and we’re still trying to get to that 30 mark every game, which is really important to us. We’ve got a lot of shooters and we play the style of the guys we have, so it makes sense to shoot a lot of threes and play with that quick pace. We have a lot of guys that draw a lot of attention, so the kickouts are there.”

Against Colorado Christian, senior Trevin Knell was 5 of 8 (63%), Baker was 3 of 6 (50%) and Kanon Catchings, Richie Saunders and Mihailo Boskovic were all 2 of 3 (66%).

Those high percentages won’t hold up over the course of the season but the Cougars do have a lot of options from distance.

“Three-pointers are very important,” Young said. “It was something in our secret scrimmage (against Boise State) that we didn’t do as well as I would have liked, so it was a point of emphasis. So it was nice to see guys carrying that over. It’s funny to talk about because I heard it in the NBA all the time, ‘We want to shoot more threes.’ But how do you actually do that? That’s something we try to educate our guys on. It’s not just come down and jack them up. When you drive and somebody helps, maybe we got a kick. I know that sounds simple but to get guys to do that over and over and over, that’s how how you wind up with 24 assists.”

Young said he expects starting point guard Dallin Hall and forward Fousseyni Traore, who were both held out of the exhibition game, to be healthy enough for Tuesday’s home opener against Central Arkansas. Senior guard Trey Stewart, who also missed the exhibition, may require more time to get ready, according to Young.

Opponent Preview

Central Arkansas, which plays in the Atlantic Sun Conference, has a new head coach in John Schulman, who led Division II Alabama-Huntsville to the NCAA Tournament in five straight seasons. His record there was 112-39.

Last season, Central Arkansas was 9-23 overall and 5-11 in ASUN play. The Bears top returning player is Elias Cato, a 6-foot-9 senior who averaged 11.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in 2023-24. The visitors will also rely on transfer Brayden Fagbemi, a 6-foot guard from Johns Hopkins who averaged 13.4 points and 3.7 assists last season.

The Bears play five power conference opponents in the preseason, including BYU on Tuesday and the University of Utah on Thursday as well as Georgia Tech, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Men’s College Basketball

Central Arkansas (0-0) at BYU (0-0)

Tuesday, 7 p.m. MT

Marriott Center, Provo

TV/Streaming: ESPN+

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

Live stats: byucougars.com

The Word: This is the first meeting between BYU and Central Arkansas. … The Bears play in the Atlantic Sun Conference and have a new head coach in former Alabama-Huntsville mentor John Schulman. … BYU was 5-0 in season openers under Mark Pope with victories against Cal State-Fullerton in 2019 (76-58), Westminster in 2020 (108-59), Cleveland State in 2021 (69-59), Idaho State in 2022 (60-56) and Houston Christian in 2023 (110-63).