BYU Cougars forward Kolby Lee (40) works San Diego Toreros forward Yauhen Massalski (25) down low for a shot as the Cougars and Toreros play in WCC tournament action at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, March 9, 2019. San Diego won 80-57. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Through a suspension, injuries and lineup changes, BYU’s Mark Pope has forged a bond among his players that has carried them to the cusp of an NCAA tourney bid
PROVO — How close is this BYU team?
Well, they’ve worked on proximity rapport since before a summer tour of Italy in 2019. The payoff came against Gonzaga last Saturday. The Zags cut the Cougars lead to two points with seven minutes to play, but then BYU pulled away with key bombs, stops, steals and a slam dunk. It was a display of confidence and chemistry.
It showed in last-gasp game winners at Houston and against Saint Mary’s at home.
It will be needed Saturday when the Cougars play Pepperdine in Malibu, California, in the regular-season finale. At stake is a No. 2 seed and immediate advancement to the semifinals of the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas. A win would also solidify BYU’s wild card bona fides in the Big Dance as a possible No. 5 to 7 seed. Bracketologist Joe Lunardi had the Cougars No. 6 in the Midwest Region this week.
Center Kolby Lee said the bond created on this BYU team is palpable. Because they love and respect each other so much, it gives each player a license to call out one another in practice or in a game and it is delivered and accepted without ego, but love and regard, he said.
These guys are so close, says Lee, that if a teammate had a little nose debris on display, they’d quickly declare the “booger” so the guy wouldn’t be embarrassed.
That, folks, is a protective detail.
“I mean, we’ve got seven seniors and great leadership,” said Lee. “The new coach has demanded it and I think everybody demands it of each other. We want to see each other succeed. I don’t think anyone has a hidden agenda, we all will put the team before ourselves. When you do that you have success in games.”
Lee said he has seen teams in the WCC struggle with this in the heat of the moment, players turning on other players right in the middle of a game. He says when any of his teammates hold another accountable, it is given and taken in a completely different and productive manner.
“All season we really came together,” Lee explained. “This is honestly one of the most together teams I’ve ever been on. I had a pretty close group in high school, but in this group, we fight for each other every single night.
“Even through practices, we’re always like, if someone’s maybe having an off day, we get on them. And it’s not out of frustration or even that we’re mad at them. It’s out of love. These guys are just so close to each other that we demand the best from each other. I think that’s kind of led to our success.”
The Cougars rank No. 2 nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio behind Notre Dame at 1.60. BYU is the nation’s leading 3-point shooting team, converting at 42.2% by making just over 10 per game from distance. BYU leads the WCC in assists per game and ranks No. 4 nationally in that category with 17.9.
This version of the Cougars has made 898 field goals, 529 assisted. The Cougars are No. 2 nationally in effective field goal percent (58.5%) and against Gonzaga twice had an average of 59.2%, one of those matchups without Yoeli Childs.
The Cougars are 15-2 with Childs and 8-5 without him. They have been forced to adjust and play together whether he is on the court or not. At the Maui Classic back in November without Childs, the Cougars beat UCLA, a team that just won 10 of its last 12 games and is atop the Pac-12 heading into a home game Saturday against Arizona.
Lee said the Cougars have had most of the year to bond, doing things together, traveling to Europe and Hawaii, playing cards and other games off the court. They have essentially transitioned from teammates to buddies.
He says coach Mark Pope came in and made chemistry a priority right out of the chute last spring and summer, before that trip to Italy. It took a natural path.
In last week’s upset over the Zags in Provo, Lee said it was a matter of the team playing hard and within themselves.
“It was a fun game and we played well. I think the biggest thing was we didn’t do anything crazy, we just played our tails off and played hard,” Lee said. “It was more of a team togetherness than going outside trying to make crazy plays that aren’t there.
“I didn’t do anything that I haven’t done in previous games. I shot the ball. I only made one 3. I shot my quick shots I normally do. I was patient, and I played good defense and rebounding the ball.
“So it was just things that had to be done for us to be a good team and I think everyone made those plays. But it wasn’t crazy things where I’m out there trying to shoot tons of 3s, or Zach’s not doing anything out of his comfort zone. We just played within ourselves and we played hard.”
On Thursday, Pope spoke of another motivation he’s pushing this weekend. BYU must keep winning for the sake of fallen senior Dalton Nixon who is rehabbing a serious ankle sprain. He’s telling the Cougars if they keep winning they’ll be in the Big Dance where Nixon could make it on the floor for a first-round Thursday game.
Protective detail. Just win.
from Deseret News https://ift.tt/38eGRlf
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario