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LAWRENCE, Kan. — Plenty was working for BYU in their 76-68 upset of No. 7 Kansas, right down to the pregame hype speech.
Jaxson Robinson and Dallin Hall each scored 18 points, but every player on the team played a role in the Cougars' first win over the Jayhawks since 1960 and first-ever win at historic Phog Allen Fieldhouse.
Noah Waterman had 9 points and six rebounds, including the game-sealing board, for BYU. New-dad Spencer Johnson had 7 points and five rebounds for the Cougars, Trevin Knell scored 7, and Richie Saunders added 5 points and four rebounds off the bench.
Fousseyni Traore totaled 6 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Cougars, who shot just 39% from the field but totaled 13 3-pointers on 34 attempts to help them overcome a 40-37 rebounding deficit and 36-16 in points in the paint.
The prep started with BYU's coaching staff, led by defensive assistant Kahil Fennell and included one less day of prep than any other team in the league because the Cougars don't practice or compete on Sunday in keeping with religious traditions of the university's sponsoring institution, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"I believe that our prep on Sunday is more important than our prep on Monday," Pope said. "Personal and spiritual rejuvenation and prep; the sabbath is the sabbath. It's a day given to us for a very special purpose, and I'm grateful for it. I'm really proud of our guys, and really, really grateful."
That prep went right up to the pregame hype speech, when director of video strategy Keegan Brown gave what head coach Mark Pope called "the most emotional, heartfelt pregame speech involving some vandalism of his own personal property.
"He stays so even-keeled, and for guys to see his emotion tonight was really special," Pope said during his postgame radio show on BYU Radio. "It was just one of a thousand special moments tonight."
Three days after BYU's 84-74 loss to Kansas State that knocked the Cougars (20-8, 8-7 Big 12) out of the Associated Press Top 25, the well-traveled visitors returned to the Sunflower State and pulled off its highest-ranked win of the season to move into a tie for fifth in the Big 12 with just three games left in the regular season.
BYU's win after a loss was the fourth consecutive defeat that saw an accompanying victory a few nights later, but Tuesday's was the most improbable.
It was the first time the Cougars have bounced back for a win on the road, in a conference that has been a murderer's row of home-court advantage, in one of what Pope called "two or three or four meccas of college basketball."
But these Cougars don't quit, Robinson said.
"We've been in a position where people have been doubting us since we started in this league, even before the season," he told BYU Radio. "But this team has done a great job of staying together, not listening to the outside noise. We just want to get better. Even after losses, we go home and figure out ways to get better. I think coach does a great job of helping us with that, and tonight was a huge opportunity to bounce back with a win."
In a conference where the once 13th-projected Cougars were picked to finish at the bottom of the league by the preseason coaches' poll, BYU has a chance to finish in the top half of its first trip to the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City.
The Jayhawks were playing without top scorer Kevin McCullar, but Bill Self's team was playing at home, where it held a 19-game winning streak — tied for the second longest in the nation.
Kansas doesn't lose in the Phog, where sellouts are expected and wins are promised. BYU marveled like any other player, team or fan of college basketball — when the Cougars got to the gym Monday night for shootaround and meet-and-greet with local fans.
There were gasps, there was awe, and there were plenty of selfies and photos taken. But 24 hours later, BYU was all-business, which helped the team keep its composure when it shot just 39% from the field and 6-of-19 from 3-point range in the first half.
That composure came in handy when Pope received a technical foul after yelling at the referee, stomping his foot during a foul-laden run that saw BYU finished with 25 fouls to Kansas' 18.
"It is really special, and like nowhere I've been. It has its own feel and uniqueness, and the history is incredible," Pope said. "We're just grateful to play in the game, and I couldn't be more proud of the way our guys battled. The way they fought and kept their composure was a special night for the Cougars."
A special night, but not the end of BYU's season. The Cougars can clinch a .500 record in Big 12 play Saturday with a win over TCU (7 p.m. MST, ESPN+), with more to prove next week at Iowa State and at home against league-low Oklahoma State.
Tuesday night was special. But it also means little if BYU doesn't build on it.
"We have so much growing to do; we're going to get better and better and better," Pope said. "But starting just walking into this building, one of two or three meccas of college basketball, this is the birthplace of college basketball. The opportunity to come play in this environment was really special for our guys.
"Cougar Nation has been waiting for 100 years to make these venues a part of who we are," he added. "These players and my staff are doing a massive job of trying to prove to the world that we belong here."
