Tucson, Arizona – The controversial end that went in favor of Byu, a jaw not so good which interrupted the post -match handle line and the coarse behavior of the student section of Arizona obtained most of the big Titles Saturday evening and well Sunday after the cougars of Arizona Asnulé Le Wildcats 96-95 at Howling McKale Memorial Center.
Lost in madness was that before the ugliness, the revenge match of a match won 85-74 by Arizona in Provo on February 4 was beautifully entertaining, the two teams brilliantly performing in attack and leaving something to be desired in defense.
It was essential television, because Byu improved at 19-8 in total (10-6 in Big 12) and probably hit his ticket for March Madness. The losses of the Arizona of the ancient PAC-12 Arizona in McKale are rare.
“Hats off at Arizona. It was a heckuva basketball match. They are really good. Tommy (Lloyd) is a very good coach, as I learned in this landscape. He knows what he is doing. He is very lively, and it’s a good team, and Caleb (love), he’s a player. He made games when they needed him, “said Byu coach Kevin Young.
“Fortunately, we were able to do enough (parts). Richie (Saunders) was incredible. Make these two huge free throws (at the end of the game). In a game like that, it seemed that the one who was going to get the last stop was going to win. »»
The cougars went to n ° 29 in the net ranking, n ° 26 in Kenpom.com, and received the status of “locking” (at least one chance of 95%) to make the NCAA tournament by The ESPN “Bubble Watch 2025” function.
According to ESPN BPI, Byu is now 96% chance of doing the tournament for the second consecutive year. The cougars, who have won eight of their last 10 games and four of their last five outdoor games, could well climb in the last rankings of the best best in the Press which should be released on Monday.
They are suddenly one of the hottest teams in the country, after posting their second sequence of four -game victories in their second season at the Big 12.
“It did not give me many good feelings when I saw what (Arizona) Record was (to McKale),” said Young, “so being able to win in this environment was enormous.”
Coupled with the 91-57 victory on Kansas n ° 23 Tuesday, it was one of the best weeks of a BYU basketball team in recent memory, overshadowed by this race led by Jimmer Fredette to Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament in 2011 and the Jimmer Fredette Danny Ainge was directed to the elite eight in 1981.
By the way, Ainge was at the arena on Saturday evening, as well as two alleged candidates for the position of sports director of Byu, Chad Lewis and Brian Santiago.
Before Saturday, the only missing element in the CV of Byu was a 1A quadruple victory – defined as a victory over a team from the Top 15 of the Net on its floor at home.
Mission accomplished, because Arizona (18-9) remained at n ° 9 despite the loss at home.
It was very special for Byu because the Wildcats dominated them, physically and on the dashboard, in the last eight minutes in Provo on February 4, when the Arizona won an 11 -point victory.
“Yeah, I mean, we learn and we learn, right?” Each game, you have the opportunity to learn. We took a lot from the last match, passing forward in the big games afterwards, and including this, “said Saunders, who argues arguments for the All-Big 12 honors.
“You hope you will learn, above all, just losing, as strong as it is. It’s just all learning.
There is obviously the work to be done in defense, but offensively, the cougars struck their stride. They put 96 points in the 17th best defensive team (Arizona) in the country, by Kenpom.com. They put 91 on the defense of fifth row of statistics, Kansas.
In the space of five days, byu’s note in the predictive metric of KPI rose from 59 to 36.
One of the wildest metric oscillations I have seen for several years …
After a 34 -point victory over the Kansas and a victory on the @ arizona road, Byu went from 59 to 36 in KPI in 5 days.
23 spots. In 5 days.
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801 Bracketology
“My message to our group is whatever the next challenge in front of us, we try to attack it, whether it is practice, whether it is a shot, whether it is a game,” said Young.
“I know it seems cliché, but it was really the recipe for us, it is not to look further than what we have to do at that time, and today these guys (Arizona) were The challenge at hand, and we entered and took care of the business.
The cougars went to Phoenix immediately after the match and will stay in the Sun Valley until Wednesday match (7:30 p.m. MST, ESPN +) against the state of Arizona in Temple.
The Sun Devils announced before their confrontation with the state of Kansas on Sunday afternoon that their top scorer, BJ Freeman, is no longer with the team.
Freeman, a 6-foot 6-inch person who was on average 13.7 points per game, collected a top of the 11-point team in the ASU 76-56 defeat against Byu at Marriott Center December 31.
Cougars in the air
Byu (19-8, 10-6) at Arizona State (13-14, 4-12)
Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.
In Desert Financial Arena
Temple, Arizona
TV: ESPN +
Radio: byu Radio 107.9 FM / byuradio.org / byu Radio Application
(Tagstotranslate) Tucson
