No. 19 BYU Cougars men's basketball dropped to 20-9 overall and 8-8 in Big 12 play, after a 79-71 road loss to West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball on Saturday at Hope Coliseum. West Virginia (17-12, 8-8) ended a three-game skid and improved to 2-4 against AP Top 25 opponents, while BYU has now lost two straight and eight of its last 12 games.
With frustration clear, Cougars head coach Kevin Young called the first-half performance “inexcusable,” pointing directly to rebounding and a prolonged offensive drought.
“The first half was a joke,” said Young. “Not the whole half, but, you know, they went on that flurry, and it was, some of those clips we watched at halftime, and it was inexcusable. So I thought our guys responded at halftime and brought better effort in the second half.”
The Mountaineers won the rebounding margin by 10 and collected 18 offensive boards, converting them into 15 second-chance points. BYU, which Young said ranks among the nation's better defensive rebounding teams, struggled without consistent interior production as Keba Keita battled early foul trouble and reserves Ahmed Abdullah and Khadim Mboup combined for four rebounds in 18 minutes.
The game-changing stretch came after the Cougars led 21-17 with 7:59 left in the first half. West Virginia responded with a 20-5 flurry, part of a 23-5 closing run, to build a 40-26 halftime advantage. BYU went the final 12 minutes of the half without a field goal and attempted just 19 shots in the opening 20 minutes compared to 34 for West Virginia. The Mountaineers forced nine first-half turnovers and turned the Cougars' miscues into seven points.
Honor Huff scored 19 points to lead West Virginia, while Brenen Lorient finished with 18. DJ Thomas scored 13 points, and Jasper Floyd and Chance Moore each had 11, with Moore scoring 11 during the first-half run.
For BYU, Robert Wright III played all 40 minutes and led all scorers with 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including 7-of-8 from the free-throw line, committing just two turnovers. AJ Dybantsa added 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting and seven rebounds, but had four turnovers and only four points at halftime. He scored 11 points in a five-minute second-half burst and cut the deficit to 72-69 with 2:15 remaining.
Keba Keita's steal and layup cut the margin to 74-71 with 1:11 left, but the Cougars failed to score again, committing turnovers on consecutive possessions after defensive stops. The Mountaineers won the game by hitting 5 of 6 free throws in the final 26 seconds.
Next on the schedule, West Virginia visits Kansas City, and BYU travels to Cincinnati Tuesday night.
