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PROVO — Fousseyni Traore must really like playing West Virginia.
The 6-foot-6 senior from Bamako, Mali, poured in 20 points to go with 10 rebounds as the 25th-ranked Cougars stretched their winning streak to six straight Saturday with a 77-56 win over the Mountaineers in front of a sold-out crowd of 17,978 fans at the Marriott Center.
Traore scored 24 points in the Cougars' last win over West Virginia, a 86-73 victory last February in Morgantown. Laughing at the assumption with teammates Egor Demin and Dallin Hall sitting next to him, he admitted that playing the Mountaineers is always an adventure for him.
"It's nice, man," Traore said. "Especially with those guys, like Dallin Hall. He always makes it easy, always finding me. ... I couldn't do it without all my guys around me."
With this tip in the all-time series that BYU leads 4-1, he wasn't alone.
Richie Saunders scored 13 points, and Demin added 15 points, six rebounds and three assists for the Cougars, who shot 61% from the field in the second half and limited the Mountaineers to 13-of-31 (42%).
Much of it centered, however, around the man in the middle.
"We, obviously, have played a lot of minutes together," said Hall, who added 8 points and six assists in 22 minutes. "Fouss was thrown into the fire since his freshman year here, and he's been asked to carry a big load. I think the guy sitting right here next to me is the most underappreciated BYU basketball player of all time.
"He brings it every day, he's incredible off the court, and he's an amazing teammate. We formed a really good relationship, and he's just really easy to play with."
Javon Small had 15 points with two assists to lead West Virginia (17-12, 8-10 Big 12) in the loss.
BYU (21-8, 12-6 Big 12) jumped out to an 8-2 advantage before West Virginia did what West Virginia does. The Cougars shot just 31% from the field or worse for much of the first half, as Javon Powell lifted the Mountaineers to lead by as much as 17-13 with 4:51 left in the half.
BYU hit just one field goal between the 13:16 mark of the first half and 3:47, when Trevin Knell hit a jumper from under the basket to pull within 2 points with 3:47 on the clock.
Small had 7 points in the first half as the Mountaineers, who ranked 15th nationally in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency, led 19-15 with 2:58 left in the half.
But Traore had 10 points and seven rebounds before the break, and Saunders scored 8 points on 3-of-4 shooting to help the Cougars close the half on a 12-2 run to take a 25-19 advantage.
When the Cougars went into the locker room, Traore had a feeling his number would get called. En route to 9-of-13 shooting and 2-of-4 from the charity stripe?
Maybe. But whatever it was, he'd be ready, he said.
"I just had to stay focused and trust the process," Traore added. "If coach called my name, I just had to make sure I was ready to go get it done."
The Cougars kept up the momentum out of halftime with a 7-0 spurt to start the second half, capped by a 3-point play by Saunders two minutes into the half.
In all, BYU bridged the two halves with a 24-5 run when Demin dropped a jumper with 14:45 left to play — and never looked back to set up a key showdown Tuesday with No. 9 Iowa State, which blasted No. 22 Arizona 84-67.
