BYU Gets Embarrassed at Home by UCF

The Cougars were run out of their own gym on Tuesday night

Feb 24, 2026; Provo, Utah, USA; BYU Cougars head coach Kevin Young gives instruction during the first half against the UCF Knights at Marriott Center. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Baker-Imagn Images | Aaron Baker-Imagn Images

Last Saturday, BYU put together its best performance of the season in a convincing win over Iowa State. Just three days later, BYU put together not only its worst performance of the season, but perhaps the worst performance by a BYU team since Davis Rose was the head coach in Provo.

BYU trailed UCF by as many as 36 points in the second half. The Cougars went on a late run, when the game was already over, to make this game look more competitive than it actually was. It was the worst performance of the Kevin Young era.

Just when it looked like BYU turned a corner against Iowa State, the Cougars came crashing back down to earth. Now, they will have to find a way to respond with only three regular season games remaining. Time is running out to find some footing before March. For as much ground as BYU gained on Saturday, they gave all of it back against UCF.

On defense, BYU was allowing wide-open looks throughout the night. BYU has generally played bad defense over the last six weeks, but this was the worst defensive outing of the season. BYU's defensive issues were compounded by a bad night on the offensive end. The Cougars' defensive effort hit rock bottom early in the second half of this game.

BYU's defensive effort was as bad as it gets in the first half. The Cougars trailed by 24 points after the first 20 minutes. But frankly, this team has played poorly in first halves before. It felt like a game where BYU was going to refocus on the defensive end and make the game close in the second half.

Then the second half started, and it was clear that nothing had changed during the halftime break. The Cougars allowed three consecutive open looks at the rim, including a pair of dunks. Just like that, BYU trailed by 30. At that point, the game was over.

On the offensive end, BYU couldn't buy a bucket for the first 30 minutes of the game. Even open layups weren't falling. As the game was about to end, BYU was shooting 6/14 on layups (43%) while UCF was 14/24 (58%) from the three-point line.

When BYU tried to string together a run at the end of the game, it was a case of too little, too late.

Now, BYU goes on the road for a pair of pivotal games at WVU and at Cincinnati.