BYU Closes Eastern Big 12 Road Trip At West Virginia

Feb 10, 2025, 4:57 PM | Updated: 5:13 pm

KSL Sports

Tuesday night’s BYU basketball game at West Virginia is another opportunity for the Cougars to earn a resume-building win.

With only four weeks left in the regular season, BYU could use a road win to boost its NCAA Tournament case to be on the right side of the bubble.

📍WVU Coliseum pic.twitter.com/oSWQYIqdb9

— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) February 10, 2025

West Virginia is another Quad 1 road opportunity for BYU to boost its resume as we move closer to Selection Sunday.

Both teams enter the weekday tilt in Morgantown at 15-8 overall and 6-6 in Big 12 play.

Closing out the Eastern Big 12 road trip

BYU hosts many Big 12 teams that go through a five-day road trip in Utah. For the first time this season, BYU is experiencing one of those extended road trips.

They lost the first game at Cincinnati on Saturday, 84-66. Now they’ll look to bounce back against a West Virginia team, who is coming off a 72-61 win over Utah in front of the Mountaineers’ second-largest home crowd of the season (13,166).

BYU head coach Kevin Young has liked the response from his team during the extended trip.

“[We] had a great practice today,” Young said Monday afternoon on Zoom with reporters. “That’s one thing that I’ve really respected about this group of players is they bring it. I got on them pretty good in a film session today with things that I feel like are issues that we need to fix, most of which have nothing to do with the scheme. A lot of it is just ball toughness offensively, spacing, just playing a little bit smarter on the offensive end, and then the rebounding and turnovers.

“I was very impressed with the way that they responded to that meeting we had this morning. I thought we had a really good practice today and I look forward to us being able to carry that over into the game.”

Last season, BYU had one five-day Big 12 road trip, splitting those games with a win at West Virginia and a loss at Oklahoma.

Tuesday’s meeting with West Virginia will be BYU’s fourth road game this season in the Eastern Time Zone. They are 1-2 in the previous three.

BYU basketball personnel notes entering West Virginia matchup

Richie Saunders continues to lead the Big 12 in 3-point field goal percentage in league play at 46.5%.
Saunders is fifth in scoring during Big 12 play at 17.5 points per game.
In 22 games this year, Saunders has scored 333 points, passing last season’s total (328) in 34 games.
Mihailo Boskovic’s two 3-pointers against Cincinnati were a first for him since the loss to Ole Miss on Thanksgiving.

BYU’s recent issues on defense

In three of BYU’s last four games, the Cougars have allowed over 80 points to opponents.

Last Saturday against Cincinnati, the Big 12’s worst offense was lights out from the midrange and hit 50% from beyond the arc. Cincinnati guards Jizzle James and Day Day Thomas combined for 39 points and were 16-of-23 from the field.

“I think one, playing really good teams that are hard to guard,” Young said. “Number two, a lot of that is self-inflicted. We’re turning the ball over too much; we’re giving up too many offensive rebounds. I think, on the whole, our half-court defense hasn’t been bad; it’s just self-inflicted.

“As it relates to Cincinnati, they hit an astronomical amount of tough shots, long twos, mid-pace shots for them and for every team that historically don’t go in, I think they were 12-of-18. But we’ve got to adjust. We didn’t do a good enough job of adjusting in-game.”

An area that could help BYU’s cause is taking care of opportunities on the glass. In BYU’s last two games, they have been outrebounded by 15 against Arizona and Cincinnati.

Young continued, “I think, on the whole, our defense definitely needs to get better. But a lot of it, in my mind, is coming out of areas that aren’t necessarily defensive related in terms of not turning the basketball over, and then, you know, obviously finishing out possessions with rebounding.”

BYU basketball assistant coach continues to be out for a “family matter”

BYU basketball assistant coach Brandon Dunson has not been on the bench in recent weeks. Kevin Young said that Dunson has not been at games due to “personal reasons” as he is “dealing with a family matter.”

When asked if he would return before the end of the season, Young replied, “I’m not sure.”

During his absence from the bench, Dunson, the first-year assistant coach who was Young’s first hire, has posted celebratory messages on X after BYU victories. He remains listed as an assistant coach on BYU’s staff directory.

Getting to know the West Virginia Mountaineers

Former Oklahoma State guard Javon Small leads the Mountaineers. Small has been an outstanding addition to West Virginia. His play has put him into the mix for Big 12 Player of the Year this season.

Everybody in 𝘽𝙇𝙐𝙀 🔵 pic.twitter.com/PQEekoiFQa

— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) February 10, 2025

The 6-foot-3 senior guard leads West Virginia in scoring (18.9), assists (5.3), and steals (1.8) this season.

In West Virginia’s win over Utah on Saturday, Small was an excellent facilitator, dishing out eight assists to go along with 14 points on five field goal attempts.

“He’s one of the most dynamic guards in the league. I really like how he plays,” said BYU head coach Kevin Young. “So he’ll challenge us, and we’ll have to make sure we do a better job on him than we did the Cincinnati backcourt.”

Last season, Small averaged 24 points per game in two meetings against BYU.

During Big 12 play, West Virginia has the league’s lowest-scoring offense at 62 points per game. However, defensively, they are second in the conference, allowing only 63.3 points per game.

The Mountaineers are ranked 15th out of 16 teams in tempo during Big 12 play this season.

West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries has done an excellent job in his first season in Morgantown. The Mountaineers have wins this season over Arizona (nonconference) at Kansas and Iowa State.

West Virginia has navigated conference play without one of its star players, Tucker DeVries. The two-time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year is out with a shoulder injury for the remainder of the season. West Virginia plans to apply for a medical redshirt season for DeVries in hopes of him potentially returning next year.

BYU vs. West Virginia

Date: Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Tip-Off: 5 p.m. (MST)/7 p.m. (EST)

TV: CBS Sports Network

Radio: KSL NewsRadio (102.7 FM, 1160 AM – Pregame begins at 4 p.m.)

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.