MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Waxing philosophical at times and replying bluntly at other times in his postgame interview after his No. 19 BYU sustained another discouraging Big 12 road loss Saturday afternoon to an unranked team, coach Kevin Young listed two obvious reasons why the Cougars stumbled again in a mostly forgettable February.
Rebounding, or the lack thereof, was culprit No. 1, Young deadpanned, after West Virginia won the battle of the boards by 10 in a 79-71 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 13,799 at Hope Coliseum.
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“That’s why we lost,” Young said, dryly noting that WVU “only” turned 18 offensive rebounds into 15 second-chance points.
The other reason?
Once again, the Cougars (8-8, 20-9) played miserably in a 12-minute stretch in the first half, turning the ball over nine times in the first 20 minutes.
That led to seven easy points from the home team, got a somewhat lethargic crowd into the contest and fueled the confidence of role players for the Mountaineers.
“It was a joke,” Young said when asked about BYU’s effort being better Saturday than it was in Tuesday night’s big home loss to UCF.
“The first half was a joke. Not the whole half. They went on that flurry. … Some of those clips we watched at halftime, and it was inexcusable. I thought our guys responded and brought better effort in the second half.”
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But the damage was done against one of the most slow-paced teams in the country, as BYU fell behind 40-26 at halftime and could never quite regain the lead despite pulling within three with 1:11 remaining on a putback basket by Keba Keita.
Young took exception to a line of questioning that suggested BYU’s offensive execution after that left a little to be desired, saying their play “was fine” on that end of the court.
But, he said, the defense “had some lapses.”
Young called a turnover in the last minute after BYU forced a turnover to get the ball back down three as “a broken play” and a “wrong decision” and mentioned how BYU executed well out of several timeouts but just couldn’t get an open shot to drop.
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Star freshman AJ Dybantsa, in particular, missed a wide open 3-pointer out of a break with 2:15 remaining. He atoned for that seconds later with a triple to pull BYU within three, 72-69, but WVU’s Brenen Lorient drove past Keita for an easy layup to restore order for the Mountaineers, who had lost three straight before Saturday’s first-ever Big 12 win over BYU in four chances.
Booed every time he touched the ball, which is a WVU student tradition as BYU learned its first and second years in the Big 12, Dybantsa had just four points at halftime.
He often looked discouraged and out of sorts, but he heated up in the second and finished with 20 points on 7 of 15 shooting. He was 4 of 6 from the free-throw line as officials allowed a lot of uncalled contact on the potential No. 1 pick in June’s NBA draft.
Dybantsa had four turnovers, one assist and seven rebounds, while Rob Wright III played all 40 minutes and had a game-high 23 points on 7 of 15 shooting (7 of 8 from free-throw line).
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Aleksej Kostic, the heir apparent now to a lot of injured wing Richie Saunders’ minutes, added 12 points off the bench in 31 minutes.
“Like coach said, the effort was just way better in the second half, but we just got to figure out a way to start the game like that. We always want to start fast,” Dybantsa said.
“You never really want to start slow…. but individually, I could have played way better. I could have gotten more rebounds, more assists, could have gotten my teammates the ball (more).”
West Virginia’s bench outscored BYU’s bench 24-12. Cougar starters Kennard Davis Jr. (seven) and Mihailo Boskovic combined to score seven points in more than 40 combined minutes.
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That’s clearly not a formula for success. As good as Dybantsa and Wright have been this season, they need more help if BYU is ever going to get back to its winning ways.
So how did this one get away from the Cougars in the first half?
When Wright hit a 3-pointer with 7:59 remaining in the half, BYU led 21-17 and it appeared the Cougars had settled in, adjusted to WVU’s snail’s pace and were ready to break out.
Naturally, WVU went on a 23-5 run to close out the half and ended up getting up 34 shots in the first 20 minutes to just 19 from BYU.
Shortly after Wright’s big triple, WVU’s leading scorer, Honor Huff, got going, triggered by three free throws after officials called a foul on Kostic in front of the BYU bench as the shot clock was about to expire.
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Huff scored 16 more points after that to lead WVU with 19.
Lorient added 18 and DJ Thomas — who averages 6.1 points per game — added 13 and was largely responsible for WVU’s big run in the first half when the Mountaineers played some of their best basketball of the season.
“Different reasons every game (for BYU’s bad first halves),” Young said. “This game, it was our decision-making, like driving into a crowd, turning the ball over, not getting shots on goal. When we did what we were supposed to do offensively, we actually did a decent enough job.
“The defensive intensity was abysmal, like I said, in the first half,” Young continued, “so those two factors got us off to that bad start.”
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It was the sixth time BYU has trailed by double digits at halftime this season, as the Cougars went the final 12 minutes of the first half without a field goal.
BYU simply doesn’t have the firepower to make up those kind of deficits in the absence of Saunders.
Young noted that BYU is one of the best teams in the country in getting defensive rebounds, but Keita picked up two early fouls, backup center Ahmed Abdullah got just two boards in eight minutes and Khadim Mboup got just two in 10 minutes.
There is a huge drop-off in defense and rebounding when Keita is on the bench.
“Every time it felt like we had them on the ropes, they got an offensive rebound, and that made it difficult,” Young said.
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“I am upset. Obviously, I am disappointed. You hold their two top guys (Huff and Treysen Eaglestaff) to 6 of 23 (shooting) …. most nights they are going to have a hard time winning, but I thought Lorient and (Chance) Moore and Thomas were men out there. They kicked our butt.”
What were the positives as BYU turns its attention to Tuesday’s road game at Cincinnati, which crushed Oklahoma State 91-68 Saturday at home?
Kostic was 4 of 8 from 3-point range, Davis played more aggressively in the second half and BYU refused to quit after halftime, starting the second half on a 7-0 run before Eaglestaff made a 3-pointer to stop the bleeding for the home team.
Wright committed just two turnovers in 40 minutes.
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“Rob had a steady hand all night, playing (the whole game) again tonight,” Young said. “Look, there are things that we can definitely take from this game that were positives, but we are just disappointed to come up short.”
Fortunately for the Cougars, February is now over, and Young liked the way a reporter referred to the month as a “trash can” for the Cougars once March starts.
Trouble is, time is running out, and so are Quad 1 opportunities, for a team that showed so much promise in November and December.
