PROVO, UTAH –
BYU men’s basketball cruised to a 95-67 win over Fresno State Wednesday night at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah.
Six Cougars reached double figures in the contest led by Trevin Knell who recorded his first career double-double scoring a new season-high 22 points and 1o rebounds.
“I didn’t even know he had a double-double, I’m still tripping on the lay-ups he made,” said coach Kevin Young. “He had 10 boards, wow. Trev’s awesome he’s done everything right. He’s one of our captains, knows what we want and does it at a high level out there. Happy for any success he has. We have to frame this stat sheet for him.”
The ‘Shot Doctor’ had his most efficient shooting night on the floor, shooting 8-of-11 and 4-of-6 from 3-point range. Knell was second on the team in plus-minus with 26, behind Dallin Hall who had 27.
Egor Demin will be out for a week and a half with a knee contusion, and will be re-evaluated in a week and a half.
“Played well. Tonight was the first time we had more than one shooter clicking on all cylinders… I thought the ball was popping out there. Like I said, we are a team that if you make a mistake, we can make you pay. Tonight we were able to that which I loved without Egor who has been the driver a lot of threes,” said Coach Young.”
The Cougars showed up and showed out with new signee AJ Dybantsa in attendance.
Dybantsa committed to BYU on Tuesday morning of ESPN’s First Take. The 6-foot-9, 5-star forward out of Utah Prep choose BYU over the likes of Alabama, North Carolina, and Kansas. He also signed early back on Nov. 13th, but it wasn’t revealed until later, per Joe Tipton of On3Sports Recruiting.
Dybantsa got a standing ovation during the half-time performance of the game as the Cougars led 44-27 over the Bulldogs.
Junior Richie Saunders was the second-leading scorer with 17 points on. 50% shooting to go along with four rebounds and three assists.
Dallin Hall became the 19th Cougar in program history with 300 or more assists. Hall recorded 13 points going 5-of-8 from the field. Ten of his points came in the second half and he looked more comfortable in his role.
“I thought he was opportunist with his looks. We ran some pretty good offense tonight that I thought helped put him in some better positions. That was something after the Providence game I had to look myself in the mirror pretty heavily. Am I putting him [Hall] and Egor, who are the heads of the snakes, in terms of handling pressure am I putting them in enough position to succeed and the rousinding answer was no,” said Kevin Young.
“We did a lot of different things to free him up. We’re just happy with the way he was able to stay composed and score the basketball.”
Fousseyni Traore grabbed 10 rebounds in the first half which led to 13 second chance points.
With his first points of the game, Fousseyni Traore moves up to 41st on the all-time scoring list with 1,129 points passing Steve Schreiner (1988-91).
BYU turns its attention to Wyoming. The last time the Cougars and Cowboys played was Dec. 30th at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah. BYU defeated Wyoming 94-68 behind 17 points from senior Trevin Knell.
The BYU men’s basketball team’s all-time record at the Delta Center is 22-5. The team has only lost five games at the venue and is seeking their 23rd win. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m. MT
