New coach Kevin Young’s BYU basketball team passed its first significant test of his first season last week, getting a split at a multi-team event (MTE) in San Diego and looking like a bonafide Big 12 contender in the process.
“I don’t really subscribe that a road (game) is that much different than home. The game is the same. You go out there and you put a game plan together and you gotta execute it no matter whether you are at home, neutral site, or on the road. So that’s really where all of our focus lies.”
— BYU coach Kevin Young
The Cougars (6-1) lost a heartbreaker in overtime to No. 23 Ole Miss, then bounced back less than 24 hours later and routed North Carolina State 72-61 in the third-place game of the Rady Children’s Invitational. BYU’s Richie Saunders made the all-tournament team.
“All in all the thing I was most happy with was our response to coming up short in a game that was right there for the taking,” Young said. “We didn’t hang our heads and we had a real business-like approach to the second game on a quick turnaround. I think that says a lot about the character of our guys.”
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The next big test comes Tuesday, as BYU travels across the country to take on the Providence Friars (5-3) as part of the annual Big East-Big 12 Battle. Tipoff is at 6:30 p.m. in the 12,400-seat Amica Mutual Pavilion and the matchup will be televised by Fox Sports 1.
It will be BYU’s first contest in a true road atmosphere this season, but Young said the approach won’t change. The Cougars flew to Rhode Island on Sunday and got in a spirited practice at Brown University’s basketball facility Monday morning.
“I don’t really subscribe that a road (game) is that much different than home,” Young said. “The game is the same. You go out there and you put a game plan together and you gotta execute it no matter whether you are at home, neutral site, or on the road. So that’s really where all of our focus lies.”
Young said the Cougars had a little trouble getting out of San Diego after Friday afternoon’s game because of a mechanical issue with their chartered airplane and didn’t get back to Provo until Saturday. But the flight back East was seamless and the Cougars are relatively healthy with point guard Dallin Hall and post player Keba Keita having overcome recent injuries.
“We are ready to go,” Young said.
He acknowledged that a little bit of conference pride is on the line, and mentioned that after BYU beat NC State he got a nice congratulatory text from Baylor coach Scott Drew.
“Some conference pride (expressed) after one of our MTE games, which I thought was a nice gesture by him,” said Young, who didn’t experience much of that in the NBA as an assistant with the 76ers and Suns. “Yeah, I am learning that side of college basketball, where you are learning to root for your own conference and the teams that you play against and stuff like that. So it is kind of a neat thing.”
Providence is 3-2 in the Big East-Big 12 Battle, while BYU is experiencing its first game of this type. BYU is 2-0 against Providence all-time. The last meeting was won 66-52 by BYU in the Marriott Center in Provo.
New BYU assistant coach John Linehan is familiar with the school, however. He played for the Friars and was the two-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year in 2001 and 2002. Linehan ranks second in NCAA history in steals.
“He knows these guys well,” Young said, adding that when it comes to producing the scouting report, BYU takes an “all hands on deck approach” rather than have one assistant produce the entire game plan.
Of course, Young and his staff inherited the game, like almost all of the nonconference games on the 2024-25 schedule.
His first reaction to having to make a cross-country trip the first week of December?
“Just reminded me of the NBA, when you take those long West to East Coast trips. Just part of the nature of the business, nature of the beast. Didn’t really put much stock into it,” he said. “I just thought it would be a really good opportunity to go play a really good team in their home atmosphere and have John Linehan return to his alma mater.”
Neither team is ranked. Providence was knocking on the door before going 0-3 at the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas, losing to Oklahoma (79-77), Davidson (69-58) and No. 14 Indiana (89-73).
Junior guard Jayden Pierre, 6-foot-2, leads Providence in scoring at 13.1 and is the kind of lightning-quick penetrator who has given BYU trouble this season.
“Talented team. They got some dynamic guards who can really score it, shoot it, and put pressure on you. So we will have to be much better there than we were against Ole Miss,” Young said. “… We have been working on our coverages and being able to mix things up. … But we haven’t been able to do at a high level to this point. They will certainly (test) that part of our game plan.
“They have talent and they will be really hungry to get a win on their home court. So it will be a tough challenge for us,” Young concluded.
BYU is still receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 released Monday, but not as many as before the loss to Ole Miss. The first NET rankings were released Monday, and BYU checked in at No. 48, while Providence is at No. 104. The Cougars are No. 35 in the KenPom rankings.
Young said he’s still learning the importance of the NET and KenPom rankings and has leaned on assistant Chris Burgess and Akash Sebastian, BYU’s new director of analytics and strategy, for help in that area.
“I am aware of the margin of victory and this and that, and based on who is in what league,” he said. “At the end of the day, man, go out and play well and all that stuff takes care of itself. Clearly we need to be mindful of the impact that it has. But I don’t think it necessarily changes things like our approach on a day-to-day basis.”
