Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- BYU basketball defeated UC Riverside 86-80, improving to 2-0.
- Egor Demin led with 20 points, while BYU dominated with 48 points in the paint behind Fousseyni Traore and Keba Keita.
- BYU struggled with shooting, hitting only 27.3% from 3-point range and 53.2% overall.
PROVO — If there was a moment when BYU men's basketball turned around a sluggish first half in the second game of the season against Big West contenders UC Riverside, it may have been on the half's final play Friday night.
That's when Egor Demin took the ball out of a lengthy officials' timeout, dribbled at the top of the key, and drove to the rim for a throwdown as time expired to put the Cougars up by 7 points.
Like Demin's dribble, it was more downhill from there.
The Russian international had 20 points, five rebounds and seven assists, and Fousseyni Traore added 13 points and six boards as BYU improved to 2-0 with an 86-80 win over the Highlanders in front of an announced crowd of 17,381 fans at the Marriott Center.
Keba Keita totaled 14 points, 10 rebounds and two assists, and Richie Saunders had 12 points with six rebounds for the Cougars, who outscored UC Riverside 48-14 in the paint.
"I feel like we had a good game plan. It was different from last game," Traore said of the increased post touches. "The team played zone the whole time, but we knew I would get a lot of catches and they may need to rely on me offensively. I'm just glad we played well as a team."
Kaleb Smith poured in 20 points, including 3-of-7 from 3-point range, for the Highlanders (0-2), who got 18 points from Nate Pickens and 16 points from Isaiah Moses.
Reigning Big West freshman of the year Barrington Hargress added 16 points and four assists for UC Riverside, which was picked to finish fourth in the Big West as one of three teams to receive first-place votes.
Egor Demin is quite good at this thing called basketball 👀
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) November 9, 2024
(via @BYUMBB)
pic.twitter.com/0D52K6mNS3
After the visitors' sluggish start, Moses capped a 12-2 run with a 3-pointer to pull the Highlanders within three, 18-15, midway through the first half.
Smith tied the game at 20-all a minute later with a bucket off the glass, and tied it again at 29-29 on another 3-pointer with 4:29 to go en route to 13 first-half points.
Keta and Traore combined for 19 points and 10 rebounds, but the Cougars shot just 2-of-11 from 3-point range to lead just 40-33 on Demin's dunk to end the first half.
The native of Moscow, Russia, by way of Real Madrid had 10 points, four rebounds and four assists for BYU, which outscored the Highlanders 24-4 in the paint before the break.
"I wasn't happy with our shot selection across the board, but I was happy with Keba and Fouss," BYU head coach Kevin Young said of the post tandem that combined for 27 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and three blocks on 11-of-14 shooting.
"To score 48 points in the paint collectively as a team against anybody is a good number. I just would've liked to have seen some of our non-rim attempts be extra passes that could have gotten us a couple more three attempts."
Kanon Catchings' 3-pointer capped a 10-2 run as the Cougars canned two of their first attempts from deep to open the second half.
After opening 0-for-3 from the field in the first half, Catchings caught up with 9 points, five rebounds, two blocks and a steal after the break in a game BYU never trailed.
Still, win No. 2 left plenty to be desired.
The Cougars shot just 6-of-22 from 3-point range and 14-of-26 from the free-throw line as the Highlanders outscored BYU 47-46 in a second half, where the largest cheers in the final minutes came when Pickens missed 2-of-3 free throws to award free Chick-fil-A via a corporate promotion.
The hosts shot 53.2% from the field, but just 27.3% from 3-point range, while the visiting Highlanders — who shot 12-of-34 from deep in a 91-76 loss Monday at Oregon — converted 11-of-28 triples.
"We've got to figure out each other. I think that's the first thing," Saunders said. "We faced some adversity, and came out with a win. I think that's the biggest thing to show for that.
"We've got a lot of stuff that we've got to improve on, and we will," he added. "But we're new with each other; that's why we've got these games. We make little adjustments, but props to them; they shot the ball incredibly well."
A win is a win. But in a program with two projected first-round NBA draft picks that saw as many as 70 scouts pass through Provo in the week leading up to Friday night's game, everything will be picked apart.
"Shot making, lapses defensively," Young said of Riverside. "They've got some guys that can really put pressure on your defense. They weren't going to go away."
