With 'elite-level' defense, lack of turnovers, BYU basketball breezes by Southeastern for 3-0 start

PROVO — Less than a week after knocking an old conference rival out of the Associated Press Top 25, BYU men's basketball kept the good times rolling Wednesday night at the Marriott Center.

Trevin Knell poured in 18 points, three rebounds and three assists, and Fousseyni Traore added 18 points and three boards as BYU cruised to a 3-0 start with a 105-48 win over Southeastern Louisiana in front of an announced crowd of 13,116 fans at the Marriott Center.

Jaxson Robinson supplied 17 points and four rebounds for the Cougars, and teammate Spencer Johnson had 11 points, five rebounds and tied Dallin Hall with a game-high six assists for a BYU squad that shot 51% from the field.

Richie Saunders added 9 points, seven rebounds and four assists off the bench for a BYU team that outscored the Lions 46-15 from the bench and added a 52-32 advantage on the glass.

With the win, the Cougars jumped up from 29th in KenPom a day before the game to No. 16 immediately after the final whistle. It's the program's highest mark in the predictive metric since rising to No. 14 back on Feb. 15, 2020.

Roger McFarlane had 14 points and seven rebounds to lead Southeastern Louisiana (1-2), the Southland Conference preseason favorites that scored 71 in a 15-point loss to Auburn last week.

But against the Cougars, BYU did what Big 12 teams should do against Southland foes: hitting 10 or more 3-pointers for the third-straight game for the first time since December 2021, and holding the Lions to 28.6% shooting and 2-of-18 from 3-point range.

"I thought our offense was good," BYU coach Mark Pope said. "But the best thing we had going offensively were two things: We only scored the ball over five times; we're really proud of that. We went into halftime with only two, and both of them were offensive fouls. The guys did an unbelievable job protecting the ball. … Our guys were really conscious about protecting the ball against a team that is a real slap-down team."

The 57-point margin of victory is the second-largest in the BYU record book, which dates back to 1950. Only a 102-40 win over Division II Western Oregon on Dec. 22, 2006, provided a wider margin.

BYU finished an eye-popping 15-of-36 from deep — only the second-most 3-point attempts of the season, with two of them coming from Traore on 6-of-7 shooting — and added 32 points in the paint and assisted on 28 of 37 made field goals.

After one silky smooth trey, the BYU student section echoed a backpedaling Traore with his trademark "Fouuuuusssssss" chant, normally reserved for a post-up or a blocked shot. The chant took a minute to materialize — possibly because the students thought that "The Shot Doctor" Knell took the shot.

Nope, it was just Traore, the 6-foot-6, 240-pound junior from Bamako, Mali, who's been working on his 3-point game.

"Trevin Knell is just different," Traore said. "Even in practice, he doesn't miss his 3s. Whenever he gets it, you'd better be there. I feel like we need a guy like that. He's going to help us big-time."

"He's a shot doctor," he added, before flashing a grin, "but I'm trying to be like Dallin Hall."

After Friday night's stunning 74-65 win over San Diego State, Wednesday's matchup against the No. 211-rated team in KenPom wasn't quite so dramatic.

Knell knocked down three straight 3-pointers during a season-high 21-0 run, and the Cougars led by as much as 38 en route to a 52-17 halftime lead.

Traore and Knell each scored 11, Robinson added 10 points and four rebounds off the bench, and Johnson and Saunders each supplied 9 points as BYU held the Lions to 5-of-25 shooting, including 0-of-8 from 3-point range, before the break.

"Our defense was elite-level," Pope said. "I was really proud of it."

BYU is back home Saturday against Morgan State (7 p.m. MST, ESPN+) before a pair of neutral-site games over the Thanksgiving holiday against Arizona State, followed by North Carolina State or Vanderbilt in Las Vegas.

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