A Closer Needs to Emerge for This BYU Basketball Team

BYU center Keba Keita goes up for alley-oop dunk against Utah | BYU Photo

The difference between a great season and a mediocre one can be slim in college athletics. On Saturday night, BYU lost to rival Utah 73-72 in overtime. With the loss to Utah, BYU is now 0-4 in overtime games and games decided by five points or less.

Losing close games has been the headline of BYU's season thus far. When BYU has won, they've won big. Every single win has come by double digits. Here are the margins of BYU's victory this season:

1. 38
2. 36
3. 44
4. 24
5. 44
6. 11
7. 28
8. 19
9. 46
10. 20
11. 16

When games have been close, BYU has come up short. The Cougars are 11-6 and currently outside the projected NCAA Tournament field. How differently would this team be perceived if those close conference games had gone their way. In that scenario, BYU would be 14-3 and 5-1 in conference play.

In the final minutes in close games, BYU hasn't had anyone to turn to on offense. That's the primary reason, according to this author, that BYU has been unable to win close games. In overtime against Utah, for example, BYU turned to four different players in the final minute:

1. Richie Saunders had a turnover with 31 seconds remaining
2. Dawson Baker missed a potential go-ahead floater with 8 seconds remaining
3. Trevin Knell went to the free throw line to win the game with 6 seconds remaining and missed
4. Egor Demin missed the game-winner at the buzzer

The distribution of BYU's final possessions illustrate the point - the Cougars don't have someone they trust to get a tough bucket in critical moments. That needs to change if BYU wants to win close games moving forward.

Against TCU, BYU didn't have a field goal in the final 3:11 in regulation. TCU outscored BYU 8-2 in the final three minutes on their way to a 71-67 win.

The NCAA Tournament is still a possibility for BYU. If BYU wants to get there, however, they need to learn how to win close games. Winning close games without a closer will be hard to do. That's something that BYU will need to figure out soon if they hope to keep their tournament hopes alive.

On Tuesday, BYU travels to Colorado. On paper, that looks like a must-win game. The Buffaloes are 0-6 in conference play.