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PROVO — The Cougars are taking the most momentum of the season into the New Year.
BYU basketball climbed two spots to No. 12 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 after wrapping up nonconference play at 12-1 with a 94-68 win over Wyoming in front of an announced sellout crowd, tying the program's highest-ever ranking under fifth-year coach Mark Pope.
But the next steps will be the most difficult.
The Cougars open Big 12 play Saturday against fellow league newcomer Cincinnati (8 p.m. MST, ESPN2), followed by a quick turnaround next Tuesday against No. 18 Baylor in a newly renovated Foster Pavillion.
Ready or not, BYU's No. 310-rated strength of schedule in KenPom (which rates the Cougars No. 3 overall) is about to get a lot more difficult. But Pope's team is as ready as anyone could be, with leading scorer Jaxson Robinson returning from a brief hiatus due to ankle injury against the Pokes, and BYU getting even more production from its bench in assist-to-turnover national leader Aly Khalifa, and back-to-back career games by Atiki Ally Atiki (with a broken thumb) while awaiting medical clearance for top rebounder Fousseyni Traore (hamstring).
"We're so excited. In a sense, nothing changes because this has been about us for the last year and three months," said Pope, whose team continues to lead the NCAA in assist-to-turnover ratio after dishing 27 dimes against the Pokes. "Our keys of the game are not going to change next Saturday from what they were today. The identity that we are chasing is not going to change, from the way it was against Bellarmine or Wyoming, or against Cincinnati, who was our first games in the Big 12.
"I think we have a lot of faith in our preparation. We are humble. We understand what we are walking into, but we know who we're trying to be. We're hopefully getting better at being us every single day, and that's what we're going to look forward to in this league."
That doesn't make the challenge any less daunting. The Cougars are one of six Big 12 schools ranked in the AP Top 25, led by No. 2 Kansas (12-1) and No. 3 Houston (13-0). Purdue (12-1) sits atop the poll for the third-straight week, receiving 49 of 63 first-place votes.
Nine teams from the league ranked in the top 40 in KenPom, which projects BYU to win double-digit games in conference.
While BYU continues to deliver performances commensurate with their #3 ranking at https://t.co/4XOkZfzYg4, the road is about to get tougher. The Cougs have faced just three teams in our top-100 over their first 13 games -- but each of their next SEVEN opponents are in our top-60. pic.twitter.com/zDW6fVVqgM
— Erik Haslam (@haslametrics) December 31, 2023
According to HaslamMetrics.com, the Cougars have faced just three teams in the top 100 nationally, but will now see the next seven opponents all from the top 60 in the country.
"We're stepping into 18 straight really challenging games where we'll have all kinds of things happen to us, but I think we have a chance," Pope said. "What I'm pleased about in this nonconference is that hopefully we put enough capital in the bank with a belief in who we are and what we can be that we're going to be able to do that in conference, through good and bad."
Only one Pac-12 team is ranked in No. 10 Arizona (10-3), but Utah (12-2) — which handed BYU its only loss of the season — remains just four spots outside the top 25. San Diego State leads the "others receiving votes" group with 113 points.
