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PROVO — Winning anywhere in the toughest college basketball conference in America can be a chore, but winning on the road has been particularly difficult for the BYU men's basketball team.
The Cougars aren't alone in that regard.
The Big 12 has been a league of big home-court advantages with around a half-dozen games remaining in the regular season. It's the same for the teams at the top, the bottom, and stacked somewhere in the middle like BYU.
In all, home teams are 48-19 since the start of Big 12 play, led by undefeated teams in Iowa State (5-0), Houston (5-0) and Kansas (6-0). Unsurprisingly, the Cyclones and Coogs are tied atop the league at 8-3, while the Jayhawks are just one game back at 7-5 due in large part to a 1-5 record away from Phog Allen Fieldhouse.
BYU's 6-5 record is one of 10 teams within three games of the league title, which includes a 4-2 mark in the Marriott Center — the largest venue in the conference that boasts 15,206 fans per game.
"It's crazy; seeing Kansas lose by 30 to Texas Tech on the road, that's just the Big 12," said BYU center Aly Khalifa, noting the Jayhawks' 79-50 loss Monday. "It's really, really hard to win in general, even at home. Obviously, the home court advantage is big. That Texas Tech game had a great crowd, and it's obviously going to affect you a little bit. But it's just every team trying to win, and at home, you don't want to lose."
Even the teams currently at the bottom of the league standings have taken care of business at home as often as they haven't. UCF, West Virginia and Oklahoma State are a combined 1-17 away from home, but the Knights (3-2), Mountaineers (3-2) and Cowboys (2-3) are hovering around .500 in friendly environments.
That's the challenge facing No. 19 BYU (18-6, 6-5 Big 12) as it travels to Gallagher-Iba Arena to face the Cowboys (10-14, 2-9 Big 12) on Saturday (12 p.m. MST, ESPN+).
The Cougars have the No. 1 offense in the league, averaging 83.4 points per game, while Oklahoma State ranks 13th on offense (70.4 ppg) and 12th of 14 teams on defense (70.4 points allowed per game).
But in this conference, home court — much like BYU's proclivity for the 3-point shot — is a strong equalizer.
"I hate when we lose in the Marriott Center; those two games that we lost, seeing the fans leaving was hard. I'm sure other teams feel that, as well," Khalifa said. "They try so hard not to lose at home, even if they are having a bad season – everyone plays well at home. The Big 12 is the best league in the country, and it's very hard to win on the road."
BYU has won four of its last five games — the lone loss in that stretch coming on the road, 82-66 at Oklahoma — and hits the road for four of its final seven contests. The Cowboys also boast one of the better freshman bigs in the conference in 6-foot-11, 245-pound center Brandon Garrison, and two top rebounders in Garrison (5.6 rebounds per game) and Quion Williams (5.7).
"He's really special," BYU coach Mark Pope said of Garrison. "His ability to protect the rim, to run the floor, to change coverages and guard multiple positions. His touch around the rim is pretty special, too. Sometimes if you take bigs out of the post where they can feel a body, sometimes they get really uncomfortable; he doesn't. He's got a calmness about him that is really impressive. I think they've got a rising star that is going to be really special."
BYU has a one-two punch down low of its own, with Khalifa joining a renewed Fousseyni Traore in the post (and flashes of junior forward Atiki Ally Atiki, as well). Khalifa doesn't envision the two BYU bigs playing together — he'd love to be wrong, he cheekily adds — but having the flexibility of the two available centers gives the Cougars options it hasn't always had this year, Pope said.
"In that sense, our misfortune has been our blessing, too. Hopefully it will pay dividends as we go through the season," Pope added. "You'd like to argue that since we've had so many changes, that the guys are accustomed to it and as they come in the future, we'll be ready to go. But we have to prove that. We have to prove that it has any value, and hopefully we are able to do that."
