Top 10 Moments From BYU Basketball In 2019-20 Season
Apr 3, 2020, 12:08 PM
Photos courtesy of BYU Photo/Jaren Wilkey
PROVO, Utah – BYU basketball did not get the chance to achieve “One Shining Moment” during the NCAA Tournament in the 2019-20 season due to the novel Coronavirus pandemic. It’s a shame because Mark Pope’s first year as a head coach of the Cougar Cagers was a memorable one that will leave BYU fans with a lot of great moments to cherish.
If you could open the door to one moment from last season what would it be?#BYUhoops #GoCougs #OpenDoorChallenge pic.twitter.com/Lvd3CNCToP
— BYU Basketball (@BYUbasketball) April 2, 2020
BYU basketball finished the 2019-20 season with a 24-8 overall record and was set to receive an at-large bid to the Big Dance for the first time in five years.
Top 10 moments from 2019-20 BYU Basketball season
Let’s look back on the Top 10 moments from this memorable BYU Basketball regular season.
10. Dalton Nixon gets stitched up moments after the win over Southern Utah
This moment captures the gritty attitude of senior forward Dalton Nixon who gave up everything from his personal game to help the team succeed. During BYU’s hard-fought victory against Southern Utah, Nixon took an elbow to the cheek and it led to doctors after the game stitching up his cut. There’s a reason Mark Pope always called Nixon the “heart and soul” of the 2019-20 Cougars, moments like this.
#BYU's Dalton Nixon took a nasty elbow to the cheek against SUU. Here's my angle of the hit. #KSLSports pic.twitter.com/t7LO5fY17R
— Zak Hicken (@zakhicken) November 14, 2019
9. Kolby Lee’s career night against San Diego
Nearly everyone in the BYU basketball program made progress this past season, but the player who possibly made the biggest leap forward in his game was center Kolby Lee. Seldomly used in his redshirt freshman season, Lee was forced to get better with star Yoeli Childs missing the first nine games due to suspension and forward Gavin Baxter suffering a torn labrum.
Kolby Lee (@Krlee32) on his career-high 21 point night: “Aside from the fans cheering, it felt like a normal night to me.” #BYU #BYUhoops @kslsports pic.twitter.com/DlSy1JzzCG
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) January 17, 2020
One of the breakthroughs for the “Quickie Monster” was on January 16th in a conference game against San Diego. With Childs out due to a dislocated finger, Lee came up big delivering a career-high 21 point effort on a perfect 8-8 from the field to go with five rebounds.
Lee’s growth during his sophomore season is a credit to the work and buy-in he placed into assistant coach Chris Burgess. Now Lee looks to be a key piece to BYU’s frontcourt going forward.
8. Yoeli Childs returns from injury as BYU earns key road win at Pacific
After being sidelined for the previous four games due to a gruesome dislocated finger injury, Yoeli Childs returned to action in a pivotal WCC road game at Pacific. BYU entered the game with a 3-2 league record having just suffered a 23-point setback against Gonzaga in The Kennel.
Even with Childs in the lineup, BYU was in a closely contested battle with the Tigers. Childs and senior guard Jake Toolson led BYU on a 21-0 run in the second half to put the game out of reach for good, giving BYU a 74-60 victory and a quality road win on their NCAA Tournament resume.
7. BYU fans overtake Malibu to close out a special regular season
When BYU teams are rolling and experiencing success that puts them in the national conversation, BYU fans show up in big numbers. Case in point, BYU’s regular-season finale at Pepperdine in February. The 3,105-seat Firestone Fieldhouse was filled with Cougar fans as No. 17 BYU took down the Waves 81-64 to clinch the No. 2 seed in the West Coast Conference Tournament.
Well, it does feel a bit like the Marriott Center… pic.twitter.com/NFF1bZ5Zm3
— Greg Wrubell (@gregwrubell) February 29, 2020
There are fan bases that show up well to road games, but they aren’t many college fan bases that have fans built into a road market. BYU fans in Southern California showed up in big numbers to create an atmosphere where the road team had more fans than the home squad.
6. TJ Haws’ game-winning alley-oop to Yoeli Childs at San Diego
There were bigger moments, but you can make a case for this one to be much higher than it is on the list. San Diego’s Jenny Craig Pavilion has been one of the toughest venues for BYU to find victories on the road as a member of the West Coast Conference and it was difficult once again back on February 15th.
GAME WINNING OOP!! pic.twitter.com/AottQo05rM
— BYU Basketball (@BYUbasketball) February 16, 2020
BYU was 20-7 on the season at that time and was squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble. Down 71-70 with 25 seconds remaining, TJ Haws found Yoeli Childs on an alley-oop to give BYU a victory in a game that they could not afford to lose if they wanted to make it to the Big Dance.
5. TJ Haws game-winner at Houston
The fourth game of the season was a tall order as Houston was the defending champs in the American Athletic Conference and was a Sweet 16 team the previous year.
TJ Haws beats Houston at the buzzer! #BYU pic.twitter.com/SSFg8H8Yeb
— Jeremiah Jensen (@JJSportsBeat) November 16, 2019
BYU was in control for a majority of the game until late where the Cougars in blue had a late turnover that put them down 71-70 with 5.1 seconds remaining. Then TJ Haws took care of the game with a game-winner falling away that bounced in to give BYU a 72-71 victory. Then afterward, the postgame locker celebration was almost as epic as the game-winning shot.
The win over Houston was one of BYU’s best on their tournament resume and the Coogs ended up No. 14 in the final KenPom ratings.
4. Third Place finish at the Maui Invitational
The Maui Invitational always has a stacked field and the 2019 tournament was no exception. BYU, still without suspended Yoeli Childs, found a way to pull off a third-place finish in a tournament that featured two teams who were likely headed for number one seeds in the NCAA Tournament, had it been played.
What a dominating performance from #BYUhoops. Cougars crush UCLA 78-61. First victory over the Bruins since 1987.
Tomorrow #BYU will take on No. 4 Kansas in the winners bracket of the @MauiInv.
Cougars now 4-2 on the season. #KSLsports
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) November 26, 2019
BYU’s performance in Maui was the moment that everyone from Pope down to his players knew they could achieve something special in the 2019-20 season. The Cougars defeated UCLA who ended up being one of the best teams in the Pac-12, had a 15-point setback against No. 1 Kansas in the semifinals but was competitive for a half, before defeating Virginia Tech in a record-setting performance from three in the third-place game.
Maybe the best part of the Maui Invitational was the two games that Bill Walton was on the call. Walton couldn’t get enough of that BYU team.
TJ Haws with the "single play of the tournament" according to @BillWalton. #GoCougs #BYU @kslsports pic.twitter.com/oUaiZmrefS
— Sam Farnsworth (@SFarnsworthKSL) November 28, 2019
3. Ranked in AP Top 25 for the first time in nine years
The analytical metrics had BYU ranked in the Top 25 for a while before the Associated Press ranked the Cougars in the Top 25 on the week of February 17th. But it was still significant for BYU to earn that top 25 ranking in the AP because it hadn’t happened in nine years. Showed that BYU had arrived in the national conversation.
#BYU has been ranked at least once in the AP Top 25 in 20 different seasons.
2019-20
2010-11
2009-10
2008-09
2007-08
2006-07
1992-93
1987-88
1981-82
1980-81
1979-80
1972-73
1971-72
1970-71
1966-67
1965-66
1964-65
1955-56
1953-54
1950-51@BYUbasketball #BYUhoops @kslsports— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) February 17, 2020
2. TJ Haws game-winner against Saint Mary’s one day before becoming a dad
Noticing a theme on this list? There were a lot of game-winning plays from TJ Haws this past season and one of his best moments ever as a BYU Cougar was his game-winner against Saint Mary’s one day before he was going to become a father for the first time.
TJ Haws (@tjhaws30) with the game-winner! 🏀
FINAL: @BYUbasketball 81, @saintmaryshoops 79#BYU #BYUhoops #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/oGw8UlntkW
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) February 2, 2020
With 17.8 seconds remaining, BYU was down 79-78 and then Haws pulled up and knocked down a huge three to give BYU an 81-79 win over the Gaels. The best part is that before “Teej” pulled up his son ran through his mind.
“To be honest, my son went through my mind,” said Haws. “I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about this whole experience all day and right after I hit that shot, I said, that’s for you man. So yeah, those were kind of my thoughts.”
TJ Haws hits a game winner and later tonight he and his wife are headed to the hospital to welcome their first baby into the world. You can’t make this up. 😊 #BYU #BYUhoops #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/Y5iW96siMb
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) February 2, 2020
After the game concluded, the Haws family rushed to the hospital to welcome their first child together, Tyler Ralph Haws.
1. Senior night win against No. 2 Gonzaga
You can’t script many things better in college basketball than what took place on February 22nd at the Marriott Center. No. 23 BYU defeated No. 2 Gonzaga by a score of 91-78 in a game that produced one of the best atmospheres you’ll find in college hoops.
#BYU defeats Gonzaga 91-78 in one of the best atmospheres you’ll ever see in college basketball. #BYUhoops @kslsports pic.twitter.com/dyEYmd2gjh
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) February 23, 2020
From the opening tip, BYU players and its fans were engaged and you could sense something special was happening. Yoeli Childs had a dominant performance against one of the best frontcourts in the country scoring 28 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. His last bucket in the Marriott Center as a BYU Cougar was an exclamation point dunk on the win.
YOELI PUTS A PUNCTATION MARK ON THE WIN #BYU @kslsports pic.twitter.com/U2dUBEvwD9
— Zak Hicken (@zakhicken) February 23, 2020
After the monumental win knocking off a Gonzaga program who had won 40 consecutive WCC Regular-Season games, BYU fans stormed the court. Only the second time in the historic Marriott Center that had happened.
After the game, Mark Pope and his seven seniors took the mic to speak to all the BYU fans that were on the floor as the Cougars had officially arrived on the national scene with that win.
🔥🔥The Cougs beat Gonzaga 91-78 and someone, somewhere just won a lot of money in Vegas🔥🔥#GoCougs #BYUhoops @SBAfterhours @kslsports
Read ➡️ https://t.co/L0nMWVbw3W pic.twitter.com/cTSldPpZPh— Rise and Shout Clowns (@x_hems) February 23, 2020
BYU basketball didn’t get the chance to have their “moment” in the NCAA Tournament, but that night in February on a senior night against the Zags was about as good as a One Shining Moment you could have asked for in this shortened season.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
