That’s been out of necessity because junior Dallin Hall, one of the key returners for the Cougars, hasn’t played yet this season due to an undisclosed injury.

“He’s our starting point guard and he’s not out there,” Cougar coach Kevin Young said. “That throws us off little bit.”

Hall has played in 68 games in his college career and started 51, including 30 starts in 2023-24. He averaged nine points and 5.1 assists last season and had some great moments, a step-back 3-pointer over 7-footer Hunter Dickinson to clinch the win at Kansas probably the highlight.

Young said Hall’s absence has been significant, particularly against a veteran team like UC Riverside. The Cougars led by 17 at one point but had to hold off a second-half charge by the Highlanders in a 86-80 victory last Friday.

Courtesy BYU Photo

“For us, not having Dallin rears its head at times,” Young said. “Clearly, he’s a steadying force. You take an experienced group like that (UC Riverside) and you pull an experienced guy off of our group … It’s good for our guys to learn how to play against guys like that, regardless of who we have out there.”

Young has been hinting that Hall will be available for a couple of weeks now, saying that he and the medical staff are just making sure that Hall is completely healthy.

“He’s on a good path,” Young said. “Like I said the other night, we don’t want to rush him back. It (the injury) is not going to be a long-term thing. We just want to make sure when we get him back he’s ready to go.”

In Hall’s place, Demin has been often times spectacular and has an 18 total assists to just four turnovers in 62 total minutes. Other ball-handling options have been senior Dawson Baker and freshman Elijah Crawford. That status quo will change once Hall, and presumably, senior Trey Stewart, return to the court from the injured list.

“Egor is a talented guy, you guys see it,” Young said. “It’s good for him to have to handle the load while we’re down bodies in close game like that (UC Riverside). He made massive plays down the stretch and really put it over the top for us.”

A group with eight newcomers is still in the process of developing chemistry, according to junior guard Richie Saunders.

“We’ve got to figure out each other, that’s the first thing,” Saunders said after the close win against UC Riverside. “We were facing adversity but we came out with a win. We’ve got a lot of stuff to improve on and we will. We’re just new with each other. That’s why we have these games, to make little adjustments.”

Free points?

The Cougars were dismal at the foul line against UC Riverside, making just 14 of 26 (54%). BYU was only 3 of 6 in the game’s final three minutes as they tried to hold off the Highlanders. In two games, the Cougars are 21 of 37 (57%) from the stripe.

“I am concerned about it,” Young said. “It’s a common theme in some of these exhibition games. There’s no real magic secret to it. You just have to step up there and knock ’em down. We encourage our guys to shoot as many as can, keep working at it.”

Saunders added: “We’ve shot enough free throws to make them, we just have to get back to doing it under pressure, doing it with 20,000 people watching us. We’ve made enough free throws in our lives and in the last week to never miss them. Just doing it is the message.”

Scouting Report

If you are a fan of  the song “Not Throwing Away My Shot” from the play “Hamilton,” this is Queens University of Charlotte, North Carolina, not Queens College of New York.

This Queens plays in the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Royals were 14-19 overall last season, 7-9 in the ASUN, last season. It’s two best players, guards AJ McKee (18.8 points per game) and Deyton Albury (17 ppg), transferred to Milwaukee and Utah State, respectively, last spring.

Third-year coach Grant Leonard brought in five transfers to supliment his roster. Queens is 2-0 with wins against Lynchburg (90-39) and Western Carolina (57-54). One of the transfers is Asjon Anderson, a 6-foot-2 guard from Ranger Junior College, who scored 25 points on 10 of 12 from the field in the victory against Western Carolina.

There is a familiar face on the Royals sidelines in former BYU Director of Basketball Operations Bobby Horodyski, a second-year assistant coach for Leonard.

Queens plays the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Tuesday before driving down I-15 to take on BYU the next evening.

“I think we want to execute our game plan regardless,” Young said. “We used to say this in the NBA, there are no asterisks in the win column on back-to-backs. No one cares. You just have to go out there and do what it takes. Yeah, you emphasize, maybe let’s run a little bit more with the back-to-back and the altitude, so it does feel very NBA-like with that kind of thing.”

Men’s College Basketball

Queens (2-0) at BYU (2-0)

Wednesday, 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: In the first two games, BYU is shooting 49% (66 of 134) from the field and 32% (21 of 66) from the 3-point line. … The Cougars are averaging 18 assists per game. … Queens University (Charlotte, NC) is 2-0 after victories against Lynchburg and Western Carolina. … Former BYU Director of Basketball Operations Bobby Horodyski is an assistant coach for Queens.