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SALT LAKE CITY — Gideon George made the most of his first start in a BYU men's basketball uniform.
Based on Thursday night, the junior forward should be getting more of them.
George scored a career-high 19 points, 13 rebounds and three assists — his second career double-double — to help the Cougars roll past Portland 105-60 Thursday night inside the Chiles Center in Portland, Oregon.
Matt Haarms added 15 points and six rebounds, and Alex Barcello supplied 12 points and four assists for the Cougars (15-4, 6-2 WCC). Brandon Averette added 15 points and five assists, and Connor Harding supplied 12 points, two rebounds and two assists off the bench for BYU, which outrebounded the Pilots 46-12.
"It's that point in the season where it's time for these newer guys to step up," BYU coach Mark Pope told BYU Radio. "I was just super proud of those guys for responding, and I was even more proud of the guys who didn't start tonight.
"This game tonight was a testament to what these guys are trying to accomplish. We've been on the road for four games to play one game … It's pretty special, and I'm super grateful I get to work with these guys."
Caleb Lohner added 11 points and six rebounds — the sixth BYU player to score in double digits. But George was, perhaps, most excited for the freshman who prepped at Wasatch Academy during his postgame radio interview.
"That's my boy," George said. "I'm really excited for him. Me and Caleb, we're the same: just hard workers and trying to help this team. I'm really happy for him."
Eddie Davis led Portland (2-8, 1-5 WCC) with 17 points and three assists, and Ahmed Ali supplied 11 points for the Pilots, who fell to 2-24 all-time against the Cougars.
Two days after their conference series with San Diego was canceled and the Cougars traveled to two cities in four days to end up playing one game, George outrebounded Portland by himself and showed why Pope and the BYU coaching staff believes his ceiling to be so high.
"I was just ready to go two days ago. I was (ticked) the game got canceled," George said. "I wanted to be ready when my name was called.
"The practice we had at San Diego was a fun one. We were talking smack to each other, and going hard at each other. We just laid it all on the floor."
When the ball was tipped off Thursday night, George was ready — ready to just play basketball, that is.
"Pope just lets us play basketball," he said. "Me especially, sometimes he just says 'just play basketball.' Brandon Averette says the same thing: at the end of the day, just play ball."
In his first career start at BYU, George had 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting to go along with four rebounds and two assists — in the first half — for a BYU squad that shot better than 66% before the break en route to a 52-30 advantage.
The Cougars held the Pilots to two long scoring droughts in the opening 20 minutes, including a 10-0 run capped by Trevin Knell's effortless 3 to go up 23-11 and a 14-0 spurt to end the half on Brandon Averette's dish to Richard Harward.
WIN TOGETHER. pic.twitter.com/PjR3pj51tl
— BYU Basketball (@BYUbasketball) February 5, 2021
Were it not for Portland's 3-point shooting, it could've been even worse. The Pilots canned 7 of 12 3-point attempts in the first half, compared to just four 2-point buckets. Eddie Davis got hot for 12 points on four consecutive makes in the first 20 minutes, but Portland didn't score for the final 3:50 of the half.
The Pilots' torrid 3-point scoring didn't continue in the second half. George did, though.
The 6-foot-6 product of Minna, Nigeria, by way of New Mexico Junior College grabbed his 10th rebound with 14:36 left to give him his second career double-double, and first since a 13-points, 15-rebound effort in a win over St. John's on Dec. 2.
"He's a beautiful human being," Pope said of George. "He's humble and full of gratitude, and there's nothing duplicitous about him. He's unfiltered and straight ahead, and he's been so wonderful for our team.
"He's growing. He's done a good job taking advantage of the opportunities he's had, and we've known for a long time he has a huge ceiling."
'No rabbits on the grill'
George couldn't be stopped inside, converting 8 of 12 shots with two of his four misses coming from 3-point range.
Neither could the Pilots stop Haarms or Richard Harward, who had 4 points and two rebounds. The Cougars outscored Portland 46-14 in the paint and limited the Pilots to single-digit rebounding until the closing minutes of the game.
BYU will host No. 1 Gonzaga on Monday in a game scheduled Wednesday after a bevy of COVID-related cancellations across the West Coast Conference.
Bring it on, says George.
"I think we have a lot of potential in this team. We're going to go far," George said. "Back in Nigeria, I used to stay up late to watch NCAA games and being able to play here right now is a big blessing for me. I'm not taking anything for granted.
"I'm so, so happy. Thanks to the BYU fans for showing me the love. I really appreciate it."