The best laid plans, right?

Two key parts of that roster are no longer available. Nate Pickens, a transfer guard from UC Riverside, wasn’t able to suit up and had season-ending surgery almost a month ago. On Thanksgiving, senior guard Dawson Baker suffered a knee injury against Miami at the Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational.

Pickens would have been another strong perimeter defender for the Cougars and Baker, who averaged 7.5 points per game last season and made 41 3-pointers, would have been a nice change of pace on the offensive end.

On Monday, Baker released a statement on his Instagram account: “My body has been tested and tried since being at BYU — this will now be the 5th time that I’ve had to start everything all over again. Through all the heartbreak, tears and surgeries, this has been the hardest on me by far.

“Life and sports are not always fair and I’ve found a lot of importance in my life in finding peace in God’s plan, but, man, what a hard thing to do. My MRI results have shown a complete torn ACL, torn lateral meniscus, mild PLC involvement, grade 2 MCL and LCL sprains, bone bruising, muscle/tendon strains and small impact fractures to top it all off.

“There is no other fan base I would put my body through this extreme agony for. The amount of support and love that’s been shown to me has been overwhelming and inspiring. I don’t know what the future holds for me as there are a lot of decisions to be made – but know one thing, I am a FIGHTER!

“As Kobe famously said, ‘If you see me in a fight with a bear, pray for the bear.'”

In the meantime, Young is looking for others to make contributions coming off the bench. In the Cougars’ 83-79 victory against Dayton last Friday, non-starters scored exactly zero points.

“I’m hopeful it’s a one-off thing,” Young said. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about it. Dawson’s been great for us, but guys will step up. On the perimeter, I have a lot of confidence in Tyler (Mrus), Dom (Dominique Diamonde) and Alex (Alexsej Kostic). We threw him out there. These guys will tell you, he doesn’t miss a shot in practice. So I have a lot of confidence in him. I’d be lying if I didn’t say we missed Dawson tonight, and we will miss him moving forward for however long he’s out.”

Scouting Report

The Cougars should be pretty comfortable against Cal Baptist in the Delta Center, where BYU has already played twice this season.

The Lancers moved up from Division II to Division I in 2018 and compete in the Western Athletic Conference, where they were picked to finish fourth in the league’s preseason poll.

Cal Baptist started the season 7-0 but lost on Monday at Colorado 78-70, the second in a string of five straight road games. Graduate guard Dominique Daniels Jr. leads the Lancers in scoring at 17.8 points per game and had 25 in the loss to the Buffaloes.

BYU women take matinee slot at Delta Center

It’s a “Cougars vs. Cougars” clash at the Delta Center Wednesday at 3 p.m. when BYU women’s basketball takes on Washington State.

The blue Cougars (7-1) are coming off their first loss, an 84-71 defeat at the hands of No. 17 Vanderbilt at the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam. BYU was 8 of 12 from the 3-point line in a 28-point first quarter but the Commodores recovered for the win.

“I don’t expect us to shoot 8 of 12 from 3, but honestly, the shots that we got, with this group, 8 of 12 is not something that’s shouldn’t happen,” head coach Lee Cummard said. “I’ve been saying all along, we’re better shooting team that we’ve shot. They are slowly starting to get where I think we’ll be.”

The blue Cougars are also slowly recovering from a rash of injuries. Cummard said everyone but leading scorer Delaney Gibb (stress fracture) practiced on Monday.

“That doesn’t change my expectations at all,” Cummard said about the injuries. “We’re focused more on some of the things that we want to execute and handle. With the game on Saturday (Vanderbilt), we felt like we left a lot out on the table with things that were in our control.”

On Gibb, Cummard simply said, “I believe she’s supposed to start practicing shortly.”

As for Washington State, the red Cougars were picked to finish third in the West Coast Conference preseason poll but have started 1-7 against a difficult schedule that included former Pac-12 foes Stanford and Oregon. The red Cougars’ lone win came against Miami (Ohio) 71-67 last week and are coming off a 112-35 dismantling by No. No. 5 LSU.

Men’s College Basketball

No. 9 BYU (6-1) vs. Cal Baptist (7-1)

Wednesday, 7 p.m. MT

Delta Center, Salt Lake City

TV/Streaming: ESPN+

Radio: KSL 102.7/1160 AM, BYU Radio-Sirus XM 143,

Live stats: byucougars.com

The Word: This is the first all-time meeting between BYU and Cal Baptist. … Richie Saunders has scored in double figures in 19 straight games. … The Cougars next game is on Dec. 9 against Clemson at Madison Square Garden. … The BYU women’s basketball team will play Washington State at the Delta Center at 3 p.m.