Dallin Hall spent the past two and a half weeks watching Kevin Young’s exciting, new-look Cougars squad from the bench, sidelined with a toe injury and unable to contribute on the court.
Saturday night, however, BYU’s junior point guard finally got to be part of the fun on the floor, making his season debut in a 87-43 win over Mississippi Valley State at the Marriott Center.
With the win, the Cougars moved to 5-0 on the young campaign.
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“It feels good to be back,” Hall said after the game. “I’ve been watching these guys work their tails off for the last month and a half and just helping where I could, and now it’s exciting to be out there on the floor with them. We have NBA talent on the roster, so it’s fun to be playing with my brothers.”
Despite missing time, Hall didn’t skip a beat while back in action, avoiding any allegations of rust with an outing of 10 points and five assists across 21 minutes of competition.
He and freshman superstar Egor Demin formed an elite tandem when playing alongside one another, with the backcourt duo’s playmaking ability allowing BYU’s offensive attack to become much more effective.
“He’s a calming presence out there,” Young said of Hall. “With he and Egor out there, I feel like something good is going to happen. We get quality possessions. It’s also nice to try to have one of them on the court at all times. I liked what we saw from Dallin tonight.”
Though Demin failed to crack double digits in scoring for the first time as a Cougar, he still shot 3 of 4 from the field with six rebounds, six assists and three steals, continuing to make his case as a top NBA draft selection next summer.
“It’s super fun playing with Egor,” Hall said. “It’s super cool playing with someone who sees the game similarly, so we have really good conversations.
“Egor is super unselfish and he just has all the tools in his belt. I’ve never played with someone like him, and it’s super fun and we are excited to see how we can keep growing as a team and work this dynamic to its fullest.”
With Hall and Demin leading the charge, BYU dished out 21 assists on 31 made shots, putting five players in double figures in points and shooting a collective 53.4% from the field.
“I think one of our main strengths is that we love to share the ball,” Demin said. “… Just sharing the ball and not being selfish. We are confident in each other, and this is one of our main focuses.”
“(Sharing the ball) is our identity, it’s who we are,” Young said. “It’s something I’ve talked about since the day I got here. It’s something I believe in. We work on it every day.
“Our guys are extremely unselfish and that ball pops out there. I didn’t even think we shot it particularly well tonight. We missed a lot of open shots but I’m happy with the ball movement.”
Meanwhile, Fousseyni Traore — replacing an injured Keba Keita in the starting lineup — picked up his first double-double of the year with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
“Fouss is a stud. He’s exactly what you want out of a young man in your program,” Young said.
Dawson Baker and Trevin Knell combined for 22 points, four assists and four steals, while Kanon Catchings added 14 points with three boards, three assists, a block and a steal.
Ten different Cougar players scored on the night, with six teaming up to hit 11 of 32 3-point attempts.
“We ran some nice plays where guys were able to screen for each other and move the ball,” Young said. “I’m happy with that. These guys take pride in playing as a unit, and I think that’s reared its head in every game so far.”
While the offensive output was encouraging, Young seemed happiest about the Cougars’ improvement on defense throughout the contest.
Mississippi Valley State shot 52.6% in the first half, only for BYU to hold the Delta Devils to a 26.9% mark after halftime while swiping a total of 12 steals.
“I thought we were good defensively in the second half. That was our challenge at halftime,” Young said. “We got a little overextended defensively in the first half, and we wanted to see improvement in the second half.”
“A point of emphasis for us has been our defensive intensity, guarding the 3-point line as a team, and I feel like we made a lot of strides in that area as a team tonight,” added Hall.
The Cougars now head to San Diego for the Rady Children’s Invitational Tournament over Thanksgiving weekend. They’ll face Ole Miss Thursday before playing either NC State or Purdue on Friday — their first true power conference tests of the season.
“I think we as a team have a ways to go, but that’s what makes it so fun because we are hungry to get better every day, and we’re humble,” Hall said.
“We understand we have a great coaching staff with a lot of knowledge that wants to help us all pursue our future goals and as a team, so we are just trying to stay humble and hungry every day and enjoy it.”
