Emotional BYU Team Walked Off Floor Together For Final Time After Loss To UCLA
Mar 21, 2021, 8:59 AM | Updated: 1:48 pm
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MARCH 20: Head coach Mark Pope of the Brigham Young Cougars speaks with his team in the first round game against the UCLA Bruins in the 2021 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Hinkle Fieldhouse on March 20, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana – BYU basketball closed out its 2020-21 season with an upset loss to UCLA, 73-62 at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The game saw BYU never hold a lead against the Bruins and put an end to what was a memorable year for Cougar hoops.
Moments after the final horn sounded, signaling the end of BYU’s 20-7 season. BYU players walked off the floor together one final time. Emotions ran high including for senior Brandon Averette. The graduate transfer potentially played his final game as a collegiate player.
#BYU walks off the court for the final time this season. #BYUHoops #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/tqsNW0puEo
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) March 21, 2021
KSL Sports asked Mark Pope in the postgame press conference what his message was to his team after the loss with emotions being so high.
“There’s no message. There’s no message to make it better. At least I don’t have it. Sometimes you come to the end of a season and you have guys that are exhausted and frustrated and fatigued and ready for it to be over. And that’s not our locker room. So that makes it doubly hard.
“There are no words that I can say to them that will make that better,” said Pope. “I just told the guys how much I loved them and how grateful I am for them to allow me the privilege of pushing them as hard as we pushed them and asking them for as much as we asked them for. So I don’t have any better words of wisdom.
“We’ll unpack everything. These guys, they live to respond to adversity. They’re experts at getting back up off the mat and moving on and making great things happen. And I know that this locker room will do that and I know these young men are able to do that. But there’s going to be some mourning and grieving that goes on. And we’ll do that together just like we competed and won games together this year.”
BYU completed its 30th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars featured three seniors on this roster in Brandon Averette, Alex Barcello, and Matt Haarms. Haarms said in the postgame that this was his last game. Averette and Barcello have not made an official decision on what they will do for next season.
Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the NCAA made this year a free season of eligibility. So seniors like Averette and Barcello could return to the BYU basketball program next season if they wish to do so.
Follow Mitch Harper and his NCAA Tournament 2021 coverage from Indianapolis with BYU and Utah State by following KSL Sports on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and the KSL Sports app.
