Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO — BYU men's basketball wasn't at its best Saturday night, with over half the team still dealing with the effects of a bug that is making its way around the team.
But there's no reason for Cougars fans to feel ill, either.
A shorthanded Kansas State squad that only dressed 10 players — and played eight — pushed the Cougars to the brink. But Fousseyni Traore had 14 points and eight rebounds; and Spencer Johnson added 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists to help the 21st-ranked Cougars hold off the Wildcats 72-66 for a bounceback win in front of announced crowd of 17,446 at the Marriott Center.
"It was just good to be back," said BYU center Aly Khalifa, who missed the past two games with an illness and had 8 points and six assists with two turnovers. "It's good to be back to competing with the guys and just having fun out there at home. The guys played great, they played hard, and played great defense — on both sides."
Arthur Kaluma had 18 points and eight rebounds for Kansas State, which rallied from 17 points down midway through the second half to force a one-possession game in the final minute. Cam Carter added 14 points and six rebounds for the Wildcats (15-9, 5-6 Big 12).
But Jaxson Robinson had 12 points off the bench for BYU (17-6, 5-5 Big 12) — including a crucial 3-pointer with 51 seconds remaining — as Noah Waterman scored 11, and Trevin Knell added 10 points to help the Cougars hold on despite making just two field goals in the final five minutes.
Big Shots. Big Games.@BYUMBB holds off the comeback from the 'Cats with this shot from Jaxson Robinson to secure the W.pic.twitter.com/x8eydng562
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) February 11, 2024
"It was just kind of a staggered screen; I came off with this aggressive look in my shot, and just let it go. It went in," Robinson said of his final triple. "It wasn't the catch that any shooter would want, but Dallin got it to me and that's all that matters."
BYU shot just 8-of-25 from 3-point range, but scored 14 points off Kansas State's 16 turnovers, while the Cougars flipped the script on a seasonal issue with just seven turnovers given.
But the hosts also shot just 10-of-21 from the free-throw line, allowing the Wildcats back into the game after trailing by as much as 17 midway through the second half.
After a slow start, the Cougars turned to an unlikely source for an early spark.
Trey Stewart made his first appearance in over a month about eight minutes into the game, when the reserve point guard logged his first minutes since Jan. 9 against Baylor. He put down 2 points, three rebounds and a steal in five minutes as BYU turned a 14-12 edge into a 27-19 advantage with just under six minutes left in the half.
Khalifa scored 8 points on 3-of-5 shooting with two assists, and BYU held the Wildcats to 38% shooting, three 3-pointers and three offensive rebounds en route to a 36-27 halftime lead.
Neither team shot particularly well out of the break, but Traore had 6 points after the break as the Cougars led by as much as 17 with 9:11 remaining.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Knell and Waterman kept BYU's lead at 64-48 with 5:58 to go.
Then the Wildcats found their rhythm.
Will McNair capped a 9-0 run over 90 seconds with just over four minutes to go, and Carter stretched the run to 13-3 moments later to pull Kansas State within 5 points.
Kaluma capped a run of four straight makes with a 3-pointer to pull the Wildcats within a single possession, 66-64, with 1:01 remaining as BYU failed to score from the field for nearly five minutes.
Saturday's heavyweight fight between two teams ranked in the top 75 of the NET and KenPom was going to be a five-round bout, Kansas State coach Jerome Tang said.
"We said this was going to be a 15-round fight, and it didn't matter how big of a lead they had; they let you back in the game because of the way that they play," he said. "The problem is, they got to throw the last punch tonight instead of us."
Robinson broke the drought on the next play, flying off an open look from the top of the key and finishing a pass from Hall for a 3-pointer with 51 seconds left. The Cougars could breathe easier a few moments later when Johnson came off a screen and drove to the rim with 13 seconds remaining as BYU held on.
The Cougars are back home Tuesday to face UCF. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. MST on ESPN+.
