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PROVO — On the wall of BYU football's practice facility is a plaque of goals that in most years reads the following: win the rivalry games.
Utah State. Boise State. Utah.
The same could be said of the BYU basketball team.
Two more rivalries are on tap in Provo this week.
And no, that's not (only) a reference to Saturday's 4 p.m. MT tipoff against 2-0 Utah.
After a 67-64 win over in-state rival Utah State, BYU will first play host to Boise State — a series BYU leads 9-5 all-time, as opposed to the 121-game series with the Aggies.
"We're treating it as a rivalry game, because we want to win so bad," said BYU guard Brandon Averette, who is averaging 9.8 points per game in four starts. "It's just the hardest game we've had all year. We're going in to compete our butts off, and try to get this win."
The Cougars are motivated by recent results, too. While Averette wasn't with the team a year ago, Boise State's 72-68 overtime victory in Boise last November still eats at the returning members of a club that lost seven seniors to graduation. Derrick Alston Jr., who is averaging 13.7 points for the Broncos in his redshirt senior season, had his first career double-double that night and caught plenty of attention from BYU, as well.
Sophomore guard Trevin Knell remembers plenty about that night in Boise when he scored 3 points at ExtraMile Arena.
"I think what stands out most (from last year) was how hard they crashed the offensive glass. They're more athletic this year, and we overlooked them," Knell said. "So this year, we're looking to smack them in the mouth. We're kind of looking at it like a rivalry, but also to make some noise and prove something."
Of course, last year's BYU team is remarkably different from the 2020-21 version. Replacing players like Yoeli Childs, Jake Toolson, TJ Haws and Dalton Nixon with Averette, Matt Haarms, Richard Harward and Wyatt Lowell will do that.
But will it be enough for a different result?
"We have way different personnel, way different skill set, and way different skills on the offensive side of the floor," BYU coach Mark Pope said. "We're a complete work in progress this year.
"Look, that Boise State game last year was a debacle offensively. We clearly are not where that team was at the end of the season, but I think we have some good vision of where we want to be offensively."
There's no doubt that the true rivalry will come on Saturday against a team that also stunned last year's BYU squad. The Utes were just one of eight teams to top the Cougars in 2019-20, doing so with a 102-95 overtime victory at the Huntsman Center.
Fans can be forgiven for looking ahead to the weekend showdown with the Utes. But first things first: the Broncos have all the players' attention, Knell said.
"We're looking forward to it, too," the Woods Cross product admitted of the Utes. "But the next game we play is the hardest game, and we're only focused on that. Any given team can win; we've seen that in March, in the conference. We've got to come out and know that this team beat us last year, put on a show on us, so we've got to show our toughness.
"Every game will have frustration. We just need to turn that frustration into fight. There's a huge game on Saturday, but also a huge game on Wednesday and a huge game next Friday. We've got to stay focused on the one tomorrow."
On the air
BYU (5-1) vs. Boise Stae (2-1)
Tipoff: Wednesday at 7 p.m. MT
TV: BYUtv (Dave McCann, Blaine Fowler, Spencer Linton)
Streaming: BYUtv.org
Radio: BYU Radio, KSL Radio 1160 AM/102.7 FM (Greg Wrubell, Mark Durrant)
Series: BYU leads, 9-5
