Senior night success: BYU pulls away in second half to take down Utah, 85-74
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- BYU’s Dallin Hall (30) celebrates with teammates after making a 3-pointer to end the first half in a Big 12 men’s basketball game against Utah at the Marriott Center on Saturday, March 8, 2025.
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- BYU’s Richie Saunders (15) drives around Utah’s Jake Wahlin in a Big 12 men’s basketball game against Utah at the Marriott Center on Saturday, March 8, 2025.
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- BYU’s Dawson Baker (25) drives past a pair of Utah defenders in a Big 12 men’s basketball game at the Marriott Center on Saturday, March 8, 2025.
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- BYU’s Trey Stewart (1) poses for a photo with his family and Cosmo the Cougar on Senior Night before a Big 12 men’s basketball game against Utah at the Marriott Center on Saturday, March 8, 2025.
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- BYU’s Fousseyni Traore (right) hugs school president Shane Reese on Senior Night before a Big 12 men’s basketball game against Utah at the Marriott Center on Saturday, March 9, 2025.
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- From left, BYU seniors Trey Stewart and Trevin Knell and junior Jared McGregor watch the video screen on Senior Night before a Big 12 men’s basketball game against Utah at the Marriott Center on Saturday, March 8, 2025.
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- BYU’s Keba Keita (13) gathers in a rebound in a Big 12 men’s basketball game against Utah at the Marriott Center on Saturday, March 8, 2025.
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- Fans spell out BYU on their T-shirts at a Big 12 men’s basketball game against Utah at the Marriott Center on Saturday, March 8, 2025.
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- BYU’s Dallin Hall (center) celebrates after making a 3-pointer to end the first half in a Big 12 men’s basketball game against Utah at the Marriott Center on Saturday, March 8, 2025.
As is often the case, the BYU-Utah men’s basketball rivalry game was sloppy, messy and kind of a rock fight.
After a closely contested first half, the No. 23 Cougars led by as many as 18 points in the second but could never truly bury the Utes, which is what the sellout crowd of 17,987 at the Marriott Center really showed up to see.
In the end, BYU got the win, 85-74. The seniors — Trevin Knell, Fousseyni Traore, Trey Stewart and Mawot Mag — got their standing ovation with under a minute to play and the Cougars can now turn their attention to what might be a truly memorable postseason run.
BYU lost in overtime at Utah back on Jan. 18, so whatever kind of win it was on Saturday, the Cougars will savor it.
“I have a lot of friends (on the Utes roster) with Hunter Erickson, Caleb (Lohner) and Jake Wahlin, and they’re some of my best friends,” Stewart said. “But I hate Utah with a burning passion. So much, man. So just to get that win … I mean, we came in motivated. They got us one earlier, so we owed them one.”
After a painfully slow offensive start, BYU started attacking the rim in the second half, pulling away for a somewhat comfortable victory and its eighth straight win.
“It was another night for us where we kind of had to make some adjustments at halftime just in terms of how we were attacking them offensively,” Cougar coach Kevin Young said. “For us, it was about getting to the paint offensively and defensive rebounding. That was the name of the game and we didn’t do a good job on the glass.
“But honestly, kind of pushing all that aside, I’m just happy for our four seniors to come out here on senior night and get a win, especially against that team. We felt like we owed them one from what happened up at their place. I was just happy for our guys, to send them out of this building, which is incredible every night, on a winning note.”
The first half was a brickfest for both teams. BYU missed its first 13 3-point attempts (seven different players went oh-for) and Utah logged nearly five minutes without a basket, yet still led 16-12 at the nine-minute mark.
The Cougars finally broke the 3-point drought with back-to-back triples from Dawson Baker and Mihailo Boskovic with under three minutes to go, taking a 27-26 lead. The Cougars held a 31-30 advantage and played for the last shot of the half, which ended up being a long 3-pointer from Dallin Hall that beat the buzzer for a 34-30 lead at the break.
BYU was much more efficient on the offensive end in the second half and began to pull away from the Utes. Baker made a 3-pointer for BYU’s first double-digit lead (49-38) and then dropped in another bomb for a 54-41 advantage with 13 minutes remaining.
Utah scored eight straight to trim the deficit to five, but the Cougars went on a 12-0 spurt, with Knell finally getting a 3-pointer to drop. A pair of Mag free throws gave the home team a 66-49 lead with 6:46 to go. Five straight points from Richie Saunders earned BYU an 18-point lead, 79-61, with 3:11 to play.
Five Cougars scored in double figures, led by Baker with 15 and Saunders with 14. Keba Keita had 12 points and seven rebounds, Boskovic added 11 points and Egor Demin contributed 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
After going 3 for 18 from beyond the arc in the first half, BYU was 5 of 10 from the 3-point line in the second. The Cougars shot 61.5% (16 of 26) from the field in the second half and overcame a 53-24 deficit in rebounding by outscoring the Utes 40-22 in the paint.
Miro Little led Utah (16-15 overall, 8-12 Big 12) with 21 points, 18 in the second half. Ezra Ausar, who scored 26 points against BYU in Salt Lake City had 10 in the first half but only two in the second, along with a team-best 12 rebounds. The Utes grabbed a whopping 25 offensive rebounds and had 22 second-chance points.
Young said his team’s practice on Friday was “one of the most impressive things I’ve seen since I’ve been coaching” and that getting back at the Utes was all they talked about.
“I was like, ‘Hey, these guys beat us up there,'” Young said. “We really don’t need to say much else. We needed to go win this game strictly because of that. That really resonated with our group.”
BYU (23-8, 14-6) will head to Kansas City next week for the Big 12 Tournament, where it is the No. 4 seed. The Cougars open play on Thursday with a double bye to the quarterfinals.
