Traore's big night not enough in BYU's loss to Butler at Battle 4 Atlantis

SALT LAKE CITY — A season high from Fousseyni Traore and an unseasonably low turnover count weren't enough to rally BYU basketball to a bounceback win.

Traore poured in a season-best 21 points, 12 rebounds and four assists for BYU in a 75-70 loss to Butler Thursday evening in a consolation game at the Battle 4 Atlantis at Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

Gideon George added 14 points and six rebounds, and Rudi Williams had 12 points for the Cougars (3-3), who lost consecutive games for the first time this season and just the second time in the regular season under fourth-year head coach Mark Pope.

Jayden Taylor led Butler (4-2) with 20 points, and Manny Bates added 14 points, three rebounds and four assists for the Bulldogs, who played with just eight players during their 53% shooting performance.

"I thought we won in a lot of the areas that we wanted," Pope said after the game. "We just couldn't win the game, and we'll continue to get better."

That includes Traore, the Cougars' not-so-secret weapon in the post who shot 8-of-14 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line for his most points since a career-high 25 points on Feb. 25 against Pepperdine. The 6-foot-6 forward who prepped at nearby Wasatch Academy also had two steals while playing 30 minutes with just one foul in the setback.

"I just have to keep believing in myself," Traore said, "and keep working."

Simas Lukosius added 14 points, six rebounds and three assists for Butler, which only forced 13 turnovers against the sixth-most turnover prone team in the country. That, combined with 16 turnovers forced, could be viewed as a step in the right direction for BYU, which averaged over 18 giveaways per game through the first five games of the season.

"Throughout this stretch of games, coach has continuously emphasized how much we needed to take care of the ball," said Williams, whose four turnovers were tied for his second-lowest of the season to date. "Thirteen is probably still too much, but we're on the decline."

Butler scored 10 points off seven turnovers to take a 26-18 lead midway through the first half, and the Bulldogs shot as well as 63% from the field early in leading for all but 1:23 of the first half.

Noah Waterman, George and Traore each had 5 points in the first half to lead the Cougars, who shot just 39% and struggled against Butler shot blocker Connor Turnbull, the 6-foot-10 freshman who had a pair of blocks before the break.

"I thought Connor Turnbull came in and did a tremendous job," Butler coach Thad Matta said. "It was kind of obvious where they were going with the basketball for about 20 minutes, and he had a couple of tremendous blocks to keep us in it."

The Bulldogs shot 55% from the field before the break, but George pulled the Cougars as close as 26-23 with an easy lay-in with less than five minutes in the half. That was before Butler used a 6-0 run in just 55 seconds to lead 37-30 at halftime as D.J. Hughes left the game with an injury and bigs Turnbull and Bates were limited with two fouls apiece.

As such, the Cougars outrebounded Butler before the break 21-1, paced by six boards from Traore. The West Coast Conference side finished with 39 boards to Butler's 27, including 17 on the offensive glass that led to 20 second-chance points.

Jaxson Robinson's first three of the game paced a 12-0 run out of the half, and Williams found Traore with a quick floater to give BYU a 42-37 lead just after the longest consecutive scoring run of the season.

Butler held the Cougars scoreless for nearly four minutes to retake the lead, and Traore became the most consistent piece of BYU's offense.

The sophomore from Bamako, Mali, reached double figures for the 11th time in the past 15 games with his second doubled-double of the season. But the Bulldogs scarcely led by less than 4 points until Williams finished off a tipped pass in transition to pull within one with just over two minutes remaining.

But Eric Hunter Jr. hit his third triple of the game moments later to keep the Bulldogs in front, and BYU failed to seal the comeback. George had a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left that would've tied the game, but his attempt bounced off the rim to help Butler survive.

"BYU never goes away, and I think coach Pope does a tremendous job," Matta said. "We couldn't get a defensive rebound, but we kept fighting and kept fighting.

"Free throws were key down the stretch."

Hunter finished with 19 points and four rebounds for the Bulldogs.

With its second loss, BYU and Dayton will play in the Battle 4 Atlantis seventh-place game Friday at 1:30 p.m. MST (ESPNU).

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