The 19th-ranked Cougars are off on their final road trip of the Big 12 schedule, an Eastern swing through West Virginia and Cincinnati, looking for a way to put a nightmare experience out of their minds.

Tuesday night, one team was at home coming off its best win of the season. The other was on the second game of a long road trip having just edged Utah by two points.

The results raised eyebrows all over the country and sent Cougar Nation into a bit of a tailspin.

The final margin of BYU’s shocking loss to UCF was 13 points (97-84) but the Golden Knights were up 36 points three-and-a-half minutes into the second half and only a late Cougar run made the score look semi-respectable.

With only three games left in Big 12 play, it was not a great time to play their worst game of the season.

Such a lifeless performance transcends simply having an off night and there are few basketball games in the recent history of BYU basketball that compare. Gonzaga took it to the Cougars a few times during the West Coast Conference run, but in the 2019 WCC quarterfinals, BYU trailed San Diego 46-19 at halftime in what would be Dave Rose’s last game as head coach. Eventually, the Cougars lost that one 80-57.

Tuesday had a similar feeling of helplessness.

Whatever had been BYU’s shortcomings this season, UCF exposed every one and all at once.

Defending the 3-point line was a particular issues for the Cougars, who allowed the Golden Knights to make 11 of 16 triples in the first half (68.8%). In its seven Big 12 losses, BYU has allowed opponents to shoot 45.7% from beyond the arc in the first half.

“You’ve got to make teams miss,” BYU head coach Kevin Young said. “That’s really the bottom line. I thought our contests were soft. When you let a team like them, who has talent, clearly, you let a team get comfortable, man, that’s the worst thing you can do. That’s why they were able to shoot such a high percentage from three.

“The way we do it is we kind of label guys based on their percentages, which it’s more about how much we help off with guys. And then, regardless of who it is, we want to challenge all the shots the same. And our challenges tonight were soft. We didn’t do a good job of getting a contest the way that we normally do. I think that’s what allowed them to get the rhythm that they got.”

Both West Virginia and Cincinnati are a game behind BYU in the Big 12 standings and are teams the Cougars may have been big favorites against earlier this season.

Not anymore.

“I think it’ll be a really pivotal trip for our group, to kind of continue to band together,” Young said. “That was really my message after the (UCF) game. It was very brief, but it’s like, ‘You guys need each other. That’s the bottom line. You need each other against Iowa State, you need each other against this team. You need each other against every team.’

“I thought we were too siloed tonight, offensively. I thought defensively, we didn’t help each other enough. When you go on the road, you’ve got no choice but to band together. So, I’m hopeful that we can learn from from this game, and have the guys understand that you can’t just turn it on and turn it off, right? We’re trying to build for, you know, trying to get ourselves confident in our ability to show up every night and play for the guy next to you.”

Scouting Report

It’s becoming more the norm in college basketball during the NIL/Transfer Portal era, but literally everything has changed for the Mountaineers since BYU and West Virginia played each other last season.

The coach is new (Darian DeVries left for Indiana after one year in Morgantown and Ross Hodge took over) and not a single player from last year’s roster stayed.

So throw those 2025 game prep notes from BYU’s 73-69 victory at WVU Coliseum out the window.

Honor Huff, a 5-10 senior guard who transferred from Chattanooga, leads the Mountaineers with 15.5 points per game, a volume shooter who averages 36% from the field and the 3-point line. Three other double digit scorers are 6-9 senior Brenen Lorient (North Texas transfer, 11.2 ppg), 6-6 senior Treysen Eaglestaff (North Dakota, 10.1) and 6-6 5th year player Chance Moore (St. Bonaventure, 10.0).

But it’s on the other side of the ball where West Virginia will challenge the Cougars. The Mountaineers are one of the best defensive teams in the Big 12, No. 2 in points allowed per game (64.5) and No. 4 in defensive field goal percentage (.414).

West Virginia has lost four of its past five games and is on a three-game losing streak, falling to Utah (61-56), TCU (60-54) and Oklahoma State (91-84, OT).

Men’s College Basketball

No. 19 BYU (20-8, 8-7 Big 12) at West Virginia (16-12, 7-8 Big 12)

Saturday, 3:30 p.m. MT

WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, WV

TV/Streaming: FOX

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

Live stats: byucougars.com

The Word: BYU is 4-1 all-time against West Virginia, with all four wins coming since joining the Big 12 in 2022-23. … Last season, the Cougars won 73-69 in Morgantown, Mihailo Boskovic converting a late 3-point play to seal the victory. … The Mountaineers have a new coach and replaced all 15 roster spots from last year’s squad. … AJ Dybantsa is the seventh player in BYU history to score 700 points in a single season joining Jimmer Fredette (twice), Devin Durrant, Danny Ainge, Tyler Haws (three times) and Michael Smith.