The Good & The Bad from BYU Basketball's Blowout Loss at Gonzaga

BYU traveled to Spokane on Thursday to take on the #1 Gonzaga Bulldogs.

Author:
Casey Lundquist
Publish date:
Jan 7, 2021 10:41 PM EST

BYU traveled to Spokane on Thursday to take on the #1 Gonzaga Bulldogs. The Cougars were simply outmatched against the top-ranked Zags losing by a score of 69-86. Here is the good and the bad from BYU's blowout loss:

The good

After an abysmal start to the game, Spencer Johnson hit the first three of the game for BYU with 12:00 minutes remaining.
Out of a timeout in the first half, Kolby Lee found Matt Haarms down low with a nice little pass for the three-point play.
In what turned out to be the best stretch of the game for BYU, BYU played tough defense four a stretch of six minutes which allowed the Cougars to go on a 9-2 run.
Late in the first half, Gideon George had a nice sequence that included a field on one end, a stop at the other end, then a driving layup on the following possession. That was part of a 10-2 BYU run that cut Gonzaga's lead to 13 with four minutes to go in the first half.
Caleb Lohner and Gideon George played very well for BYU on Thursday night. Lohner had 13 points and 5 rebounds, George had 11 points and 5 rebounds. There was a noticeable difference when both players were on the court for the Cougars.

The bad

BYU turned it over on three of their first four possessions which allowed Gonzaga to get out to an 8-0 lead.
BYU was dominated in every facet of the game in the first four minutes. Gonzaga took a 16-2 lead into the under-16 timeout.
Turnovers killed the Cougars in the early going - they had five turnovers in the first four minutes.
BYU started 1/8 from the floor and the Zags took a 20-2 lead.
Gonzaga had a 30-7 lead with 10:42 in the first half. The first ten minutes could not have been any worse for the Cougars.
After cutting the lead to 13 late in the first half, Gonzaga made a 13-0 after a timeout to increase the lead to 26. Gonzaga would take a 52-29 lead into the locker room.
Alex Barcello did not have a great night in Spokane. The Cougars' leading scoring had 9 points on 3/11 shooting and 6 turnovers.
Wyatt Lowell suffered a non-contact injury. It did not look good on the broadcast and appeared to be an achilles injury
To beat a great team like Gonzaga on the road, you need to shoot well from deep. BYU did not on Thursday - they were 4/16 from three against Gonzaga.