BYU basketball: Cougars see another opportunity at No. 25 Texas Tech

After No. 25 Texas Tech traveled to No. 5 Houston and was trounced 77-54 on Wednesday to lose sole possession of first place in the Big 12, Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland complained about his team’s grit and perseverance.

“There wasn’t any question who the tougher team was,” he said.

So guess what the No. 20 BYU Cougars (2-2, 14-3) are expecting Saturday when they travel to Lubbock, Texas, to take on the angry Red Raiders (3-1, 14-3) at 15,000-seat United Supermarkets Arena?

“I know (the Houston game) didn’t go their way, so they are definitely super hungry,” said BYU’s leading scorer Jaxson Robinson. “So we got to make sure we come in ready to play.”

In other words, the first-ever conference game between newcomer BYU and Texas Tech, and first matchup since 1995 (BYU leads the series 3-1), has the makings of one of those classic, physical battles BYU used to have with West Coast Conference kingpins Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s. 

“They are a tough, gritty team,” Robinson said.

Houston (2-2, 15-2), which plays at BYU on Tuesday, outscored the visitors 40-8 in the paint, and outrebounded them 38-28. 

“They play unbelievably hard,” BYU coach Mark Pope said of Texas Tech. “They are another really good team. They (were) in first place in the Big 12. That’s hard to do. Right? They clearly have a great college environment. They are dangerous at every position and it is going to be an incredible challenge for us.”

Texas Tech will try to win the game at the free-throw line; BYU will try to win the game from the 3-point line.

A week ago, it appeared Texas Tech would be able to enjoy a pretty good disparity at the charity stripe, but in Tuesday’s 87-72 win over No. 24 Iowa State at the Marriott Center, the Cougars finally started going inside more regularly and were awarded with 24 free throws, making 20.

Both were season-highs, and the 20 made freebies was the most for BYU since the WCC tournament last March.

“I think (the win over the Cyclones) raises a lot of confidence in us,” Robinson said. “But I also think we already had that confidence going into the game before we had won. I think coach did a great job just making sure we had confidence in ourselves knowing who we are and what we can do as a basketball team even though Iowa State is a really good basketball team. The confidence has always been there. I don’t think we have ever lacked it.”

Beating UCF 63-58 in a grinder on the road last Saturday in Orlando, Florida, also showed the Cougars they could win one of those types of games and increased their confidence.

But make no mistake about it — BYU would love to get up 35-40 3-pointers in Lubbock, which is its preferred playing style and the way it went 12-1 in nonconference games and became a metrics darling.

The Cougars entered Friday at No. 4 in the NET rankings and No. 9 in Kenpom.com. Saturday’s 4 p.m. MST showdown in West Texas represents another chance to prove they aren’t a fraud, as some national pundits have suggested. BYU is currently in a seven-way tie for fifth in the league that features a conference-record eight teams in The Associated Press Top 25.

“It couldn’t be any more fun. It is awesome that you get to do this every single night. It is so cool. So I don’t know how I thought it was going to shake down,” Pope said. “That’s the crazy thing, is you don’t know what is going to happen the next four games. There might be a bunch of 7-1 teams, or we might all be 4-4. It is hard to know.”

Pope said what UCF has done — sandwiching victories over Kansas and Texas around the five-point loss to BYU — illustrates just how much parity there is in the Big 12. That’s why the Cougars are expecting a big-time battle on the South Plains.

“We have played a lot of the top teams in the country and we competed well,” Robinson said. “So just making sure that we stay confident in what we got going and making sure that we are aggressive in every aspect of the game, and I think we will pull away with a lot of wins.”

Injuries to starters Trevin Knell (foot) and Fousseyni Traore (hamstring) forced Pope to play just seven guys against Iowa State before garbage time, a development that could prove costly on the road when fouls seem to pile up faster and travel weariness could become a factor.

Of those two, Traore probably has the better chance of playing Saturday vs. Tech, based on what they did in the media-viewed portions of practice Thursday.

Eric Gay, Associated Press