PROVO, Utah (AP) — BYU knew that if it was going to compete in arguably the nation's best basketball conference, serious changes were needed.
Coach Mark Pope and his staff went to work building a roster after the Cougars accepted an invitation in 2021 to join the Big 12 Conference, knowing the transition would be difficult in the short term. BYU took plenty of lumps last season while mostly relying on inexperienced freshmen and sophomores.
One year later, the Cougars are 12-1, ranked 12th and showing they intend to make a serious splash in their debut Big 12 season.
BYU is off to its best start since opening the 1987-88 season with 17 straight wins. The Cougars are imposing their will on both ends of the court, scoring 90.4 points per game with a 58.5 effective field goal percentage while allowing 61.5 points per contest. All three categories rank in the top 12 nationally.
“Everybody has this DNA now,” BYU guard Trevin Knell said. “We believe this is who we are and it’s so fun to see.”
Who the Cougars are now offers a sharp contrast to who they were during their final season in the West Coast Conference. BYU went 19-15, tying for fifth place in the WCC at 7-9. The Cougars failed to reach 20 wins for only the second time in 18 seasons and totaled their highest number losses since 2005.
It’s one reason BYU was picked 13th in the 14-team Big 12 media poll.
Perhaps the more seasoned Cougars knew better given their deep familiarity with what Pope wants his team to accomplish. His formula for success is simple — crash the boards, make the extra pass, take care of the ball and shoot almost at will from the perimeter.
BYU is doing all those things at an elite level. The Cougars lead the nation with 22.5 assists per game and rank first nationally with a 2.31 assist-to-turnover ratio. They also top Division I with 12.8 made 3-pointers per game and a plus-13.0 rebound margin.
“The identity that we’re chasing is not going to change,” Pope said. “I think we have a lot of faith in our preparation. We are humble. We understand what we’re walking into, but we know who we’re trying to be and it’s who we’ve been trying to be every day."
BYU has accomplished all this even while not playing at full strength.
Fousseyni Traore, the team’s top returning scorer from last season, missed seven games last month with a hamstring injury. Leading scorer Jaxson Robinson battled an ankle injury in late December. Aly Khalifa, Dawson Baker and Dallin Hall missed games or played under minutes restrictions early in the season because of injuries.
Still, the Cougars keep rolling and have built quality depth to effectively combat the injury bug. BYU features nine players who have at least one 20-point game in their collegiate career.
“Our depth is important,” Pope said. “We still haven’t had a game with a healthy roster. I would like to do that at some point. I would like to have a healthy roster, but these guys have answered the bell in spite of that for a really impressive two-month run.”
Robinson, Khalifa and Noah Waterman have helped provide much of the spark.
Robinson leads BYU with 16.0 points per game. Waterman is the No. 2 scorer (11.8 average) and top rebounder (6.6). Both players are also shooting better than 40% from 3-point range. Khalifia sports a nation’s best 14.0 assist-to-turnover ratio and has committed only three turnovers in the 10 games he’s played.
But now the schedule gets tougher as the Cougars head into conference play, beginning with Saturday's home game against Cincinnati. A dozen Big 12 teams rank in the top 100 of the NCAA NET rankings and nine are in the top 50.
“We’re stepping into 18 straight really challenging games where we’ll have all kinds of things happen to us," Pope said, "but I think we have a chance.”
