What is BYU's Best Team Stats? Just a Minute

Three stat categories in which the Cougars are in similar tiers to Alabama basketball ahead of Thursday night's NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 matchup.

Mar 22, 2025; Denver, CO, USA; Brigham Young Cougars center Keba Keita (13) reacts against the Wisconsin Badgers during the second half in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

Welcome to BamaCentral’s "Just a Minute," a video series featuring BamaCentral's Alabama beat writers. Multiple times a week, the writers will group up to provide their take on a topic concerning the Crimson Tide or the landscape of college sports.

Watch the above video as BamaCentral staff writer Hunter De Siver discusses the BYU Cougars, Alabama basketball's third opponent in the NCAA Tournament.

2-seed Alabama men's basketball is set to face 6-seed BYU in the Sweet 16 of the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Thursday night in Newark, N.J.

The seeding has made Alabama the slight favorite to win this matchup and advance to the Elite Eight against the winner of 1-seed Duke vs. 4-seed Arizona on Saturday.

However, March Madness has upsets every single year and that's for a variety of reasons: the underdog came into the game hot, they excel at a couple facets of the game, or they're in a similar range and even better than the frontrunner in a couple of stat categories.

Here are BYU's three best stats on a per-game basis and how it compares to Alabama's numbers.

Two-Point Percentage

The Cougars shoot 58.4 percent from inside the arc which is good for the eighth-best mark in the country.

Center Keba Keita (66.9 percent), Fousseyni Traore (63.3 percent) and guard Trevin Knell (61.2 percent) are BYU's leaders in this stat category.

Alabama two-point percentage rank: 4th (60.0 percent).

Assists

The Cougars average 17.2 assists per game, which also ranks 12th in the nation. They also average 12.1 turnovers per game which is 144th.

Guard Egor Demin leads this stat category for BYU as his 5.4 assists are the fourth-most in the Big 12. However, he averages 3.0 turnovers per game. Fellow Cougars guard Dallin Hall averages 4.2 assists per game with 1.6 turnovers.

Alabama assists per game rank: 16th (17.0) with 12.7 turnovers (77th).

Threes Made

While the Cougars may shine from inside the arc, they are 325th in attempts from the area. Instead, BYU likes to take shots from behind the arc as it's 24th in the nation in attempts with 28.5 and 11th in makes with 10.6.

Guard Richie Saunders (5.3), Knell (4.7), Demin (4.6) and forward Kanon Catchings (4.0) are each averaging at least four attempts from downtown on any given night

Alabama threes made per game rank: 21st (10.2) with 29.2 attempts (14th).