BYU men's, women's basketball each 4-0 after pair of double-digit wins

PROVO — The road is about to get much more difficult for BYU men's basketball, which makes enjoying an unbeaten start more critical.

Jaxson Robinson poured in a career-high 19 points, six rebounds and two assists, and BYU cruised to a 4-0 start for the second time in three seasons with a 93-50 win Saturday night over Morgan State in front of an announced crowd of 13,736 fans in the Marriott Center.

Noah Waterman added 15 points and tied a career high with eight rebounds, and Fousseyni Traore supplied 17 points and four rebounds.

Richie Saunders paced the Cougars' 40-point outing off the bench with 12 points, four rebounds and four assists off the bench. Spencer Johnson's game-high eight assists gave the American Fork product six or more assists for the third time in four games.

"I know last year was a bit rough for us," Robinson said. "But we're jelling as a team and figuring everything out. The communication that we have with another is better, and everyone is working for each other. There's no unselfish person on this team."

Will Thomas led Morgan State with 10 points and nine rebounds for a Bears program that shot just 34% from the field and 3-of-14 from 3-point range.

Picked to finish 11th in the Big 12 but rated 15th in KenPom after a 3-0 start and receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 following a win over then-No. 17 San Diego State, BYU shot 56% from the field, hit 10-of-29 3-pointers, and outrebounded Morgan State 41-27.

After a slow start, Robinson capped a 13-2 run with a breakaway dunk to put BYU up 23-9 midway through the first half.

Traore had 8 points and four rebounds, and BYU shot 61% in the first half en route to a 42-29 halftime lead.

"I didn't feel like it was a slow start," BYU coach Mark Pope said. "I just felt like we weren't sharp as we've normally been — nine turnovers in the first half is not us; two turnovers in the second half, that's us. … Our execution wasn't just on point."

But the Cougars only shot 4-of-12 from 3-point range, and edged the Bears on the glass 18-14 while Morgan State forced nine turnovers to towards contention.

The Bears shot just 3-of-13 out of the locker room as BYU went on a 13-0 run as part of a 26-7 spurt to take a 68-36 advantage on Richie Saunders' 3-pointer with 11:28 remaining.

BYU men's basketball wasn't the only team to collect its fourth win Saturday night.

Kailey Woolston connected on 4-of-6 3-pointers en route to 18 points and six rebounds, and Lauren Gustin added 13 points and 22 rebounds as BYU women's basketball jumped out to a 16-5 first-quarter lead on Wake Forest and never let up in a 67-44 win Saturday night at the Cannon Activities Center in Laie, Hawaii.

Kaylee Smiler added 10 points, three assists and two steals for BYU (4-0); and Amari Whiting had 7 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Cougars.

It's the second time in three seasons the Cougars have started 4-0, a feat not previously met since 2013 — when the Cougars opened 9-0 en route to a 28-7 season and a spot in the regional semifinals of the NCAA Tournament. The 2021-22 opened 8-0 en route to a 26-4 record that ended with a 61-57 loss to Villanova in the tournament's opening round.

Madisyn Jordan had 12 points to lead Wake Forest (1-3), which shot just 2-of-16 from the field in the first quarter and never recover. The Cougars held the Demon Deacons to 25.8% shooting, including 3-of-18 from deep in the win.

BYU faces Saint Louis in the second game of the North Shore Showcase Tuesday at 6 p.m. MST. The game will be broadcast on BYUtv and BYU Radio 107.9 FM before returning home Saturday, Nov. 25 to host LMU.

BYU men's basketball heads to Las Vegas for the Vegas Showdown holiday tournament, where the Cougars will face Arizona State Thursday at 10 p.m. MST on ESPN2. The Cougars will also face either North Carolina State or Vanderbilt before returning to Utah for a Dec. 1 tipoff against Fresno State at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

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