The Good & The Bad from BYU's Double Overtime Victory Over Pacific

After suffering a loss to Pepperdine on Wednesday, BYU was still in line to receive a bid in the NCAA tournament according to various national experts. However, a second-straight loss would have put BYU firmly on the bubble. It wasn't easy, and it wasn't always pretty, but BYU pulled out a hard-fought victory in double overtime. Here is the good and the bad from the Cougars' 95-87 victory on Saturday night.

The good

Matt Haarms and Kolby Lee made their first threes of the game to give BYU an early 8-4 lead.
BYU started 4/6 from three with Brandon Averette hitting a couple in the first few minutes.
Brandon Averette got off to a hot start against Pacific. He started 4/5 from the field for 10 points to give BYU an 18-14 lead.
Gideon George hit the fifth BYU three in the first 12 minutes of the game. Great ball movement set up that three.
After BYU failed to score any field goals in six minutes, Spencer Johnson finally took the lid off with a three. Johnson's shot was assisted by Alex Barcello whose excellent hustle saved an air ball from going out of bounds. That gave BYU a 28-25 lead.
BYU went on another scoring drought, but it was Brandon Averette broke the seal for the second time with a three to give BYU a 31-30 lead with 30 seconds left in the first half. BYU was 1/15 from the field during that stretch before Averette's shot. Averette had a great first half, he had 13 points on 5/8 shooting.
BYU displayed better defense to start the second half which allowed them to take a 38-35 into the under-sixteen timeout in the second half.
Brandon Averette continued his productive shooting from deep with a big three to give BYU a 43-39 lead. That was part of a 12-4 BYU run.
Alex Barcello only had two points in the first half, but he kept BYU in the game in the second half. Barcello finished very strong with 23 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists.
BYU was down by three points when a field goal by Gideon George cut the lead to 61-60. BYU got a stop on the following possession, then two Alex Barcello free throws gave BYU a 62-61 lead. That was an important four-point swing in this game.
Barcello was everywhere down the stretch. With 2:30 minutes remaining, he made a heads up play to jump on the loose ball to give BYU an extra possession.
Did I mention Alex Barcello was big down the stretch? Barcello mad a massively important bucket to give BYU a 64-62 lead with two minutes remaining. On the opposite end, Caleb Lohner forced a miss in the paint to give the ball back to BYU with one minute remaining.
With the game tied at 64, Pacific had a chance to take the lead with less than one minute remaining. Caleb Lohner was forced to switch on a guard out on the perimeter. He moved his feet to stop the drive, forced a kick-out, and eventually got the defensive rebound. It was a fantastic defensive sequence by the true freshman.
BYU failed to score on the following possession and the game went to overtime tied at 64.
On the first possession of overtime, Brandon Averette drove to the rim and drew a foul. He converted on one of those free throws to give BYU a 65-64 lead.
Connor Harding has struggled from three at times this season. You wouldn't have been able to tell, however, when he confidently stepped into a deep three to give BYU a 68-66 lead with four minutes remaining in OT.
A driving field goal from Alex Barcello gave BYU a 70-68 lead with three minutes remaining in overtime.
Check out this assist from Johnson to Harward to give BYU a 73-72 lead:

Which was better... the pass or the finish?

@BYUBasketball | @WCCHoops pic.twitter.com/HWRxBZl1LS
— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) January 31, 2021

With 20 seconds remaining in overtime, BYU trailed Pacific 75-73. Mark Pope drew up a play that opened up a lane for Alex Barcello who tied the game at 75 with 20 seconds remaining. That basket sent the game to double overtime after BYU forced a miss on the following possession.
On the first possession of the second overtime, Matt Haarms backed his defender down into the paint where he scored on a little hook shot to give the Cougars a 77-75 lead.
Spencer Johner with the field goal and the foul to give BYU a 80-75 lead. That 5-0 run at the beginning of double OT gave the Cougars some breathing room.
Matt Haarms followed an Alex Barcello miss to give BYU a 82-77 lead.
After trading points for a few minutes in the second overtime, BYU had a 86-81 lead with two minutes remaining. With the shot clock winding down, Connor Harding missed a three and Matt Haarms gathered another critical offensive rebound. Haarms drew a foul an nailed two free throws to extend BYU's lead to seven.
Brandon Averette hit a dagger from three with 1:15 remaining to push BYU's lead to 91-83. That three sealed the victory for BYU. Averette finished with 24 points against Pacific.

The bad

BYU got off to a quick start offensively, but couldn't get enough stops on the defensive end to create separation. BYU led 18-16 while shooting 66% from the field.
After the aforementioned hot start on offense, BYU went cold. Ice cold. The Cougars scored zero points in 5:24, part of a 9-0 run for the Tigers to tie the game at 23. The Cougars had six turnovers during that time.
After BYU broke the first seal on the basket, a second proverbial seal was placed on the basket in the first half. BYU's stagnant offense shot 1/15 during that stretch.
Pacific took a 32-31 lead into halftime. BYU only had two points in the paint in the first half.
Turnovers hurt BYU down the stretch in regulation. None more costly than a turnover by Brandon Averette when BYU had a 64-62 lead and a chance to extend the lead. That gave Pacific an easy bucket to tie the game at 64.
With the game tied at 64 on the following BYU possession, the Cougars committed a strange turnover when Connor Harding ran out of bounds on the baseline before he touched the ball after coming back in bounds. The referee called it a turnover, and BYU gave Pacific the possession with 42 seconds remaining in regulation.
With three seconds remaining and the game tied at 64, Caleb Lohner missed two free throws to win the game. Free throws were the thorn in BYU's side down the stretch - the Cougars missed six (!!) free throws in the final 10 seconds of regulation and the first overtime
BYU allowed a few extra possessions in overtime that kept Pacific in the game. Offensive rebounds allowed five Pacific points in the first minutes of overtime.
It felt like whenever BYU took a lead in the first overtime, they struggled to get stops and maintain the lead. In the end, BYU did enough to force a second overtime where they put the game away.

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