BYU went the entirety of Big 12 play without holding an opponent to fewer than 70 points.
Yet on Wednesday, West Virginia came up well short of that number, totaling 16 field goals and turning it over 22 times in a 68-48 loss to the Cougars in a Big 12 Conference Tournament matchup at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
“They were the more physical team today,” WVU head coach Ross Hodge said. “Obviously, we turned the ball over entirely too much. I felt pretty fortunate to just be down eight at the half considering we had 14 turnovers. I felt like our defense held up pretty good for the most part when we weren’t throwing them the ball. We just didn’t play well enough to beat a quality opponent at this time of the year.”
The seventh-seeded Mountaineers (18-14) lost for the fifth time in seven games, though one of the victories had come less than two weeks ago in Morgantown against BYU in a game WVU scored 79 in.
On this night, a Cougars’ team that’s struggled mightily to generate stops at anything close to a consistent rate did exactly that.
Although West Virginia got off to a solid start to lead 10-5, the Mountaineers then went more than 7 minutes without a field goal.
By the time Brenen Lorient made the next one 7:05 before halftime, No. 10 seed BYU (23-10) had a 17-13 lead and was in front to stay.
The Cougars went to halftime on top 31-23 after the Mountaineers had 14 first-half turnovers that in turn led to only 22 field-goal attempts over the first 20 minutes.
AJ Dybansta accounted for more than half of the Cougars’ point total with 17 at the break.
WVU got as close as three in the second half, that at 43-40 after Jasper Floyd scored in the paint with 9:36 remaining.
The Mountaineers then bogged down again on the offensive end, making one field goal over the next 7-plus minutes and a mere two for the remainder of the game.
By the time Floyd scored what proved to be the team’s final points with 1:59 left, BYU was on top by 15 and well on its way to victory.
“I thought the biggest thing was just their physicality and the intensity at which they played with,” Hodge said. “They made it hard for us to move the ball. They played some different lineup combinations and they ended up playing a little more athletic and a little more physical.”
Dybansta led all players with 27 points and Davis Jr. scored 20 on 7-for-11 shooting.
Honor Huff scored a team-high 17 points for WVU on 3-for-13 shooting and Lorient added 11 points.
Excluding Lorient, the Mountaineers shot 11 for 33.
BYU faces Houston on Thursday for a spot in a Big 12 semifinal.