BYU gets over loss to Ole Miss, handles North Carolina State
-
- BYU center Fousseyni Traore (45) dunks as North Carolina State guard Michael O’Connell (12) looks on during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in San Diego.
-
- North Carolina State guard Jayden Taylor (8) tries to shoot past BYU forward Richie Saunders (15) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in San Diego.
-
- BYU guard Dawson Baker, center, shoots past North Carolina State guard Dennis Parker Jr. (11) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in San Diego.
-
- North Carolina State forward Ismael Diouf (33) shoots over BYU forward Richie Saunders (15) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in San Diego.
After Thursday’s disappointing overtime loss to No. 23 Ole Miss, BYU men’s basketball coach Kevin Young said he was looking forward to seeing how the Cougars would respond.
Very well, as it turned out.
BYU pounced on North Carolina State early in the third-place game of the Rady Children’s Invitational on Friday, never trailed and led by as many as 24 points before settling for a 72-61 victory in San Diego.
“I was just glad to see our guys bounce back,” Young said during his post-game interview on BYU Radio. “I thought our effort across the board, on a lot of levels, was really good.”
Richie Saunders led BYU with 13 points. The only other double-figure scorer was Fousseyni Traore with ten, but nine of the ten Cougars who played scored points in a balanced effort with nine points each from Dallin Hall and Dawson Baker. Freshman Egor Demin contributed eight points, a career-best 11 rebounds and four assists.
“It was a fun win today after what happened last night,” Traore said. “It was super disappointing when things didn’t go our way (against Ole Miss) but the whole team knew we had to move on and we had another chance today. We were able to put the game away and win. It was big time.”
BYU outrebounded North Carolina State 45-32 and held a 29-14 advantaged in bench scoring as well. It was a much better defensive effort as well, holding the Wolfpack to 37% (21 of 57) from the field. The 27 points scored by NC State in the first half was their worst output of the season.
“I just loved their attention to detail on the game plan,” Young said. “It was such a quick turnaround but it was definitely all about the players. I thought we were extremely good on the defensive end in the first half, and in the second half, we caught a nice rhythm offensively to kind of push things out.”
Michael O’Connell and Jaylen Taylor scored 16 points apiece for North Carolina State (5-2), which was held to 37% from the field.
BYU made five 3-pointers in the first seven minutes of the game — two each from Saunders and Hall and the fifth from Trevin Knell — to jump out to a 19-8 lead. Later, Knell fed Keba Keta for a thunderous alley-oop dunk, followed by back-to-back baskets from Baker for a 33-18 lead with 3:39 to play in the half. The Cougars made 6 of 10 (60%) from the 3-point line and assisted on 10 of its 14 first-half baskets to take a 38-27 lead at halftime.
A 14-2 run early in the second half, pushed the BYU lead to 20, 52-32, at the 15:23 mark. Traore’s 3-point play gave the Cougars a 65-41 advantage with 8:42 to go. BYU ran out of gas offensively at that point, missing 11 of its final 12 shots from the field as North Carolina State made the final score look more respectable.
But make no mistake, it was a dominating afternoon for BYU.
“It felt good,” Young said. “It obviously feels a lot better getting the split after a tough game that we should have gotten against Ole Miss. But I’m just really proud of our guys’ response, and a tight turn around. We really enjoyed being on the road because you kind of bond together when you travel. And what a great event here in a beautiful city.
“I think this was as beneficial for me just to learn about our team and learn about what I need to do better as a coach, to put our guys in a better position to succeed. We’ll take a lot of things from this. For sure, I’m glad we came.”
BYU (6-1) returns to Provo but will be right back out for another long road trip, his one to Providence, R.I., for a matchup with the Friars in a Big 12-Big East Battle on Tuesday.
