'Bombs away': George's career shooting night leads BYU to NIT quarterfinals

PROVO — Three nights ago, Northern Iowa scorched the nets with 16 3-pointers in an 80-68 win over Saint Louis to open the NIT.

Three nights later, BYU offered the following response:

"Hold my chocolate milk."

Gideon George poured in a career-high 27 points and six rebounds, and Trevin Knell added a season-high 15 points on five 3-pointers as the Cougars pulled away from Northern Iowa 90-71 Saturday night at the Marriott Center.

Te'Jon Lucas added 14 points and eight assists for BYU (24-10), which shot 52% from the field with 16 3-pointers. Alex Barcello supplied 11 points, seven assists, five rebounds and two steals, and Caleb Lohner scored 8 points with four rebounds, two assists and two blocks for the Cougars a game after going off for a career-high 20 points against Long Beach State.

"My guys did such a good job finding me tonight, Te'Jon and Alex," George said. "They break down the defense, and kick it out. I just shoot it. Coach always says, shoot it with faith, and I shot it with faith tonight.

"It started with Te'Jon, and Alex," he added. "He was pissed at me in the locker room, because I wasn't shooting the ball well."

OK, but George was pretty good too, right?

"Gideon just played a crazy game," Knell told BYU Radio. "He was super confident; I loved how he came out and started the game very well.

"It was bombs away for us tonight."

Noah Carter led Northern Iowa with 24 points, and Trae Berhow added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Panthers (20-11).

But it wasn't just shimmy-and-shoot for BYU; the Cougars had a season-low six turnovers and assisted on 22 of 36 made baskets, led by 15 total assists from the backcourt duo of Lucas and Barcello.

Spencer Johnson gave BYU just over 20 minutes with 6 points, an assist and a steal; and Fousseyni Traore added 4 points and seven rebounds on a night when the Cougars had so much energy that even head coach Mark Pope was working up a sweat — and running a bit of his mouth — on the sideline.

"It's fun to play out there," Knell said. "We're starting to jell more as a team, which is disappointing, because we're finally playing the best basketball right now.

"Our next goal is just to play SMU or Washington State, and get to New York."

With the win, BYU advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT, which will be held Tuesday and Wednesday. The Cougars will face the winner of Sunday's game between top-seed SMU and Washington State (1 p.m. MDT, ESPN+); if the Mustangs lose, the game will be in Provo.

BYU isn't anywhere near where they wanted to be during the year. But as long as they're here, they might as well win a few games, right?

"We've said it enough, that we're not where we want to be," Pope said. "But we're getting better. And that's what made me so happy tonight with this team against a good Northern Iowa team, a conference champion, a team that was hungry to be in this NIT and dismantled Saint Louis."

George went 7 of 10 from the field to open the game, including four 3-pointers, to lead a BYU squad that turned a 10-point early lead into a 5-point halftime advantage.

The Minna, Nigeria, product paced BYU during a run of eight-straight makes as the Cougars went shot-for-shot with the visiting Panthers, seeking a berth in the NIT quarterfinals. Knell made it nine in a row to go up 37-34 with six minutes left in the first half, and BYU shot 54% from the field and 9 of 18 from deep en route to a 47-42 halftime advantage.

But Northern Iowa also shot 52% in the second half, led by Carter's 15 first-half and 9 second-half points — including three free throws to end the half on a dubious call — from Berhow.

"Once we started taking defense a little more personally and capitalizing on the defensive end, the game changes," Knell said.

The two teams combined for 16 threes in a first half where BYU trailed by as much as 10 and led by as many as eight before its 5-point advantage.

Both teams were hitting at an insanely high clip. But the first to flinch? Northern Iowa, when BYU opened the half knocking down 8 of 8 from the field, including Lucas' lob pass to Atiki Ally Atiki for a slam to go up 61-51 on four-straight makes early in the half.

It was the little things that made a difference.

"This was a good game for us with the way we played defense," George said. "Caleb taking back-to-back charges was really big-time for us. Guys are buying in and playing for each other."

One more win, and then a spot in the Garden is in front of the Cougars — their first since 2015. Not perfect, but not a bad consolation, either.

And perhaps most important? The team is having fun again.

"We're hooping now," Lohner told BYU Radio. "It's fun — just making plays on both ends of the floor. We're just making plays for each other now."

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