BYU Cramps Up Without Injured Childs In Overtime Loss At Utah

SALT LAKE CITY – The Huntsman Center has never been an easy place to come away with a victory and that was the case for BYU on Wednesday night. BYU lost to rival Utah 102-95 in overtime in front of a crowd of 11,565.

BYU star Yoeli Childs made his much-anticipated season debut after serving a nine-game suspension handed down by the NCAA. Childs in his return was dominant. He made his first three field-goal attempts and they were all from behind the three-point line.

Yoeli Childs is down on the court. Cramps flaring up again. Childs being helped off the court by Mark Pope and trainer Rob Ramos. #BYU #BYUvsUTAH #BYUhoops

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) December 5, 2019

Childs scored 18 points in the first half and then continued his dominance scoring another 11 points for a total of 29 points with 15:17 remaining in the game. Just two points shy of his career-high 31 points. Then Childs started to battle what was believed to be calf cramps.

Childs had an issue with calf cramps in another game last season. This instance of possible calf cramps will hurt more as it took place in a rivalry loss where BYU held a 16-point lead.

Childs returned to the court after at the 6:54 mark of the second half before suffering an injury that caused him to lay near center court with 4:41 left in the game.

BYU had to finish out the rest of the game and find a way to get their first win over Utah in the Huntsman Center since 2011. The task got tougher when TJ Haws went out after fouling out. After the under-four media timeout, BYU lost another senior due to fouling out in Dalton Nixon.

Now Dalton Nixon has fouled out. This game is going sideways on #BYU. Trevin Knell into the game. #BYUhoops #BYUvsUTAH

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) December 5, 2019

Utah’s Rylan Jones and Timmy Allen started to take over the game scoring 25 and 27 points respectively to lead the Utes in their first rivalry win since 2015.

BYU’s blistering hot shooting from three in the first half making 67-percent of their shots ended up going south on them as they shot 36 percent in the second half then went empty-handed from three in overtime.

No update on the health status of Yoeli Child’s according to #BYU head coach Mark Pope.

Childs appeared to have suffered calf cramps in the second half in the loss against Utah.#BYUhoops #BYUvsUTAH pic.twitter.com/SAQaCXUrV4

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) December 5, 2019

Childs ended up being BYU’s leading scorer with 29 points followed by Jake Toolson with 27.

After the game, BYU head coach Mark Pope had no update on Childs’ injury/health status to report.

With the loss, BYU now drops to 6-4 on the season with former Mountain West Conference rival UNLV up next at the Vivint Smarthome Arena. Tip-off is at 1 p.m. (MT).

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.