BYU Basketball: Insights from the Win at Arizona State<\/p>\n
BYU Basketball wrapped up its two-game Arizona trip with a 91-81 road victory at Arizona State in Tempe.<\/p>\n
This marked BYU\u2019s fifth consecutive win, coming just days after entering the AP Top 25 for the first time this season.<\/p>\n
Here are the key takeaways from the victory over the Sun Devils, which improved BYU\u2019s record to 20-8 overall and 11-6 in Big 12 play.<\/p>\n
BYU\u2019s offense is clicking<\/p>\n
In their last three games, BYU has drained 45 three-pointers.<\/p>\n
Wednesday night\u2019s 17 threes against Arizona State set a season-high for BYU, ranking fourth in program history for a single game.<\/p>\n
Kevin Young\u2019s team is in peak form offensively.<\/p>\n
BYU has scored 90 points in three consecutive games.<\/p>\n
The efficiency is evident when reviewing the numbers from BYU\u2019s performance against ASU.<\/p>\n
BYU posted 1.28 points per possession, shooting 50% from beyond the arc and 60% from inside it.<\/p>\n
Four BYU players reached double figures, led by Richie Saunders with 26 points, Trevin Knell with 18, Dallin Hall with 13, and Fousseyni Traore contributing 10 off the bench.<\/p>\n
BYU basketball took care of business against a shorthanded ASU<\/p>\n
BYU head coach Kevin Young chose to keep his team in Arizona for the two-game road trip that lasted five days, aiming to foster team chemistry for the final stretch.<\/p>\n
It paid off, as the team spent plenty of time at the Phoenix Suns practice facility. During free time, they bonded at the Arizona Grand Resort\u2019s pool.<\/p>\n
With Arizona State down to six scholarship players, and later five after Adam Miller\u2019s injury, BYU could have let up.<\/p>\n
Instead, BYU showed up prepared and ready, following up their recent Top 25 ranking with a focused performance.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time to start the Big 12 Player of the Year push for Richie Saunders<\/p>\n
Looking at the Big 12 Conference, there are several candidates for Player of the Year, including Texas Tech\u2019s JT Toppin and West Virginia\u2019s Javon Small. But as the season progresses, one must wonder, why not BYU\u2019s Richie Saunders?<\/p>\n
Saunders was spectacular in BYU\u2019s 91-81 victory over Arizona State.<\/p>\n
The reigning Big 12 Player of the Week finished with 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting, including 6-of-11 from 3-point range. He also contributed six rebounds, two steals, and one assist.<\/p>\n
Saunders has scored 20 or more points in three straight games and has done so in eight of BYU\u2019s 17 conference games this season.<\/p>\n
BYU basketball struggled with the \u201cCurtain of Distraction\u201d<\/p>\n
BYU\u2019s free-throw shooting issues resurfaced on Wednesday night in Tempe.<\/p>\n
Arizona State fans are famous for their “curtain of distraction” antics when opponents are at the free-throw line, and it seemed to affect BYU.<\/p>\n
The Cougars shot just 3-of-11 from the free-throw line in the second half.<\/p>\n
For the game, they finished 6-of-15 from the line, good for just 40%, matching a season-low. The last time they shot this poorly was in a loss to Utah on January 18.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the first time since February 4 against Arizona that BYU finished below 70% from the foul line.<\/p>\n
As March approaches, BYU needs to correct this issue at the charity stripe.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BYU Basketball: Insights from the Win at Arizona State BYU Basketball wrapped up its two-game Arizona trip with a 91-81 road victory at Arizona State in Tempe. This marked BYU\u2019s fifth consecutive win, coming just days after entering the AP Top 25 for the first time this season. Here are the key takeaways from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1869],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-byu"],"yoast_head":"\n