Cougars defeat rival Utah to close regular season – Deseret News

BYU’s eighth consecutive win may have been its sweetest.

The Cougars defeated rival Utah 85-74 Saturday night at the Marriott Center, marking the team’s first victory over the Runnin’ Utes since 2022.

With the win, BYU finishes the regular season at 23-8, with a 14-6 mark in Big 12 play and the No. 4 seed secured in next week’s conference tournament.

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3 takeaways

A strong second half helped BYU overcome a sluggish start. The Cougars missed 13 straight 3-pointers before Dawson Baker finally drained one with two minutes left before halftime.

Thanks to a Dallin Hall make from “Jimmer range” at the buzzer, BYU went into the locker room with a 4-point advantage despite shooting just 37.1% from the field and 16.7% from deep.

The Cougars were much improved in the second half. Over the final 20 minutes of play, BYU shot 61.5% from the field and 50% from long distance, turning the ball over just six times as well.

Baker led the Cougars with 15 points on 4 of 7 shooting with three made triples. Egor Demin added 10 points, seven rebounds, six assists and only one turnover.

Richie Saunders posted 14 points with five boards, and Keba Keita went for 12 points and seven rebounds against his former team.

Utah’s offense was ineffective. The Runnin’ Utes shot just 34.7% from the field on the night, and aside from Miro Little, the team hit just 20.6% of its 3-pointers.

Additionally, Utah turned the ball over 17 times, which led to 21 total points for BYU.

Gabe Madsen finished with nine points on 3 of 13 shooting. Little posted 21 points with six made triples, and Ezra Ausar continued his success against the Cougars with a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double.

BYU ended the regular season with arguably the most impressive stretch in program history. Seriously, the Cougars couldn’t have scripted a better past month if they tried. Let’s rewind:

• BYU won its final eight regular season contests.
• BYU went 5-0 in Quad 1 opportunities — for comparison, the Cougars had six Quad 1 wins all of last season.
• BYU went 3-0 against ranked teams, with two of those wins coming in hostile road environments.
• BYU won four road games, doubling its previous season total.
• BYU handed Kansas — the winningest program in the history of college basketball — its third-worst loss in 125 years of competition.
• Against No. 19 Arizona, BYU scored more points (96) than any other visiting squad at McKale Center in 15 years.
• Against Kansas, Arizona and Arizona State, BYU became the first team this century to score at least 90 points, shoot at least 50% from the field, make at least a dozen threes and have fewer than a dozen turnovers in three consecutive games — all of which were Quad 1 wins.
• With the No. 4 seed in the Big 12 tournament on the line, BYU outlasted No. 10 Iowa State in double overtime on the road.
• BYU avenged a January loss to Utah by beating the Runnin’ Utes at home by 11 points.

A month ago, the Cougars were fighting for a spot on the NCAA tournament bubble. Now, they’re comfortably in the field of 68 and peaking at the perfect time, heading into the postseason with plenty of momentum to finally win a tournament game for the first time in over a decade.