PROVO, Utah — The BYU Cougars defeated UC Riverside, 86-80, in a non-conference showdown at the Marriott Center on Friday night.
BYU (2-0) remains undefeated under new head coach Kevin Young. Egor Demin led four Cougars in double figures with 20 points. He was joined by Fousseyni Traore with 13 points, Keba Keita with 14 points and Richie Saunders with 12 points.
UC Riverside (0-2) was led by Kaleb Smith with 20 points.
While the Cougars led from the start and were never really threatened, they never really put the Highlanders away, either. Young said the Cougars had to “grind it out.”
“We knew it was going to be a different game than the opener,” Young said. “(Riverside) took Oregon down to the wire. So we expected it and it was good for our guys to be in a situation like that.”
Here are three takeaways from the game.
DEMIN-MANIA
When you’ve got ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla talking about “virtual assists” after you’ve played exactly one game of college basketball, you know you’ve impressed someone. That’s what BYU freshman Egor Demin did earlier this week in his 18-point, 11-assist debut.
I got to see it for myself on Friday. It was something.
Set aside the numbers because those are going to fluctuate and, like most freshmen, he’s likely to have a slump at some point. Watch him play. I spent a few segments of the game just watching him.
His basketball IQ is incredible. He understands floor spacing at a high level. His head is always up, and what I mean by that is when he’s dribbling on offense, he’s looking around. When he’s defending off-ball, he’s looking around.
He accepts ball screens well, meaning he sets them up properly, getting himself and his defender close to the screener so he can scrape off and create more space.
He has a quality shot but he’s a willing passer and he’s good at it. He had three wow passes in the first half alone, passes that few players can make and aren’t based on anything that any normal person like you or me can see.
And, he can drive with authority, too. Or did you miss that drive-and-dunk at the end of the first half?
This is a player that could have gone to the NBA this year and given a team quality minutes. But he’s at BYU. He’s handling the ball and running the point. Young is running NBA sets and they suit him. In a conference with a lot of exciting, young players, he might end up being the best.
A FAMILIAR FEELING
This team isn’t all about Demin. In fact, in an era where talent is portable and players tend to follow coaches where they go, the fact that BYU has seven returning players says a lot about the program.
After Mark Pope left for Kentucky, the thought was that several BYU players would follow him. Several entered the portal. A few left. But only one, Jaxson Robinson, actually went to Kentucky.
Meanwhile, guards Richie Saunders, Trevin Knell and Dallin Hall, along with forward Fousseyni Traore, stayed. All could have played heavy minutes elsewhere.
Saunders and Knell started on Friday. Traore came off the bench. Hall is out with a leg injury but should be back soon. Young said they don’t want to push him but they don’t see it as a long-term issue.
All will play pivotal roles this season. And, when you consider BYU skews young — the Cougars have four freshmen, in addition to Demin — the return of those veterans will be a boost when Big 12 play starts in January.
Plus, we got a classic Saunders hustle play, as he took away an easy lay-up by sprinting back on defense to create a steal from behind. You don’t think Young is going to run that tape all weekend for his team?
THE OTHER FRESHMAN
Demin will get the attention, but the development of another freshman, forward Kanon Catchings, will be fun to watch.
The Overtime Elite product drew a start and finished with nine points and five rebounds in 27 minutes.
He doesn’t have Demin’s overall polish, in part because Demin played year-around for Real Madrid, the same club that produced Dallas superstar Luka Dončić pre-NBA. But Catchings did the things you want from a freshman this early in the year.
He hustled. He defended. He put a premium on rebounding when he couldn’t score. And, if you needed a reminder he could score, well that open-court dunk in the second half was a nice touch.
Demin may be gone after this season. Catchings probably won’t be. His development will be more meaningful to BYU’s long-term future. And he has quite the future ahead of him.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
