BYU overcomes shooting struggles to outlast UC Riverside

Brigham Young University guard Egor Demin (3) passes the ball while guarded by UC Riverside center Joel Armotrading (21) during an NCAA men’s basketball game held at the Marriott Center on the campus of BYU in Provo on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

Amid all the hype and excitement for BYU’s new-look basketball squad, occasional growing pains should still be expected for a group continuing to learn to gel with one another.

Such was the case Friday night against UC Riverside, as the Cougars held on late for a 86-80 victory in front of 17,381 fans at the Marriott Center in Provo.

“It’s good to be in a close game and try to grind something out, play the free throw game and just execute different things on both sides of the ball,” BYU head coach Kevin Young told reporters after the game. “UC Riverside is a good team. We knew that tonight was going to be much different than our first game. They took Oregon down to the wire, so it was good for our guys to be in a situation like that.”

There were plenty of reasons for the tight affair — including defensive lapses for the Cougars along with the overall doggedness of the never-say-die Highlanders — but none loomed larger than BYU’s subpar shooting performance, making just six of 22 3-point attempts while missing 12 total free throws.

Conversely, UC Riverside connected on 39.3% of its attempts from behind the arc while making 19 of 23 foul shots.

“I am concerned about it, it’s kind of been a common theme in some of these exhibition games,” Young said of his team’s cold spell from the charity stripe. “There’s no real magic secret to it, you’ve just got to step up there and knock them down. We try to encourage our guys to shoot as many as they can, and we’ll just keep working at it.”

Brigham Young University head coach Kevin Young talks with guard Egor Demin (3) during a timeout in an NCAA men’s basketball game against UC Riverside held at the Marriott Center on the campus of BYU in…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/byu-overcomes-shooting-struggles-outlast-064538235.html

Author : Deseret News

Publish date : 2024-11-09 06:45:00

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