Yoeli Childs With Perfect Start In First Game Back From Suspension
Dec 4, 2019, 6:23 PM | Updated: 6:57 pm
Yoeli Childs #23 of the Brigham Young Cougars walks the court during a semifinal game of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament against the Saint Mary's Gaels at the Orleans Arena on March 5, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Cougars won 85-72. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – BYU star big man Yoeli Childs couldn’t have asked for a more perfect start to his season debut.
It’s been 270 days since Yoeli Childs last scored a basket for the BYU Cougars, but that streak came to an end at the 17:55 mark in the first half vs the Utah Utes with a three point shot. Childs made his 93rd start for the Cougars in his first game back from a 9 game suspension.
He scored 13 of BYU’s first 20 points in the first six minutes of the game and didn’t miss a shot, going 5-5 from the field and 3-3 from the three-point line.
The hot shooting gave BYU a 20-8 lead before Mark Pope brought Childs out of the game.
. @yochilds22 with THREE 👌 to open the game!! 👀#BYUhoops #MACU3 @MountainAmerica pic.twitter.com/dtU7Tlro1o
— BYU Basketball (@BYUbasketball) December 5, 2019
The Cougars went 6-3 in his absence with wins over Houston, UCLA, and Virginia Tech. There’s no doubt that BYU could have used Yoeli Childs in the 71-56 loss vs the Kansas Jayhawks in the Maui Invitational. The Cougars were outscored 42-18 in the paint.
Childs served a 9 game suspension mandated by the NCAA after testing the NBA waters in the off-season. His return to BYU was unexpected after the retirement of Dave Rose.
He’s currently 14th all-time in scoring at BYU. Mark Bigelow is currently 10th with 1,715 points scored. Yoeli needs 106 points scored in his senior season to become a top 10 scorer all-time at BYU.
Entering the season, Childs was named the West Coast Conference preseason Player of the Year.
It’s the first rivalry game being played at the Jon M. Huntsman Center since 2015. The two teams took a break after an incident in the 2015 game with BYU guard Nick Emery and Utes guard Brandon Taylor. They played in Provo back in 2017 and at Vivint Smart Home Arena last season in the Beehive Classic.
The Cougars are happy to have him back as they wrap up the non-conference portion of the schedule. Childs will face off against UNLV, Nevada, Utah State, Weber State, and Oral Roberts before West Coast Conference play begins in January 4th, 2020.
