3 takeaways from the BYU Cougars’ 86-69 loss to the No. 1 Gonzaga Bulldogs

BYU guard Alex Barcello,left, and Gonzaga guard Andrew Nembhard go after the ball during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Spokane, Wash., Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. | Young Kwak, Associated Press

No. 1 Gonzaga had little trouble downing BYU on Thursday at the Kennel, beating the Cougars 86-69 in Spokane, Wash.

Here are three takeaways from the game from BYU’s conference opener, made possible by a schedule change this week:

• The Zags (11-0, 2-0) West Coast Conference) put the Cougars away early, building a 30-7 lead as Gonzaga shot over 60% in the game’s opening 10 minutes. BYU (9-3, 0-1 WCC) eventually whittled the lead down to 39-26, on a 10-2 Cougars run, but the Zags responded with a 13-0 run of their own in taking a 52-29 lead into halftime.
• Gonzaga forced BYU into 16 turnovers, and turned that into 25 points off the giveaways. The Cougars forced eight turnovers and had seven points off those. The Zags also held a 16-2 advantage in fastbreak points.
• Corey Kispert paced all scorers with 23 points, as the Bulldogs shot 49.2% from the field and made 7 of 20 3-points, better than BYU’s 4 of 16 effort from beyond the arc. The Zags also had 19 assists to the Cougars’ 10 — Joel Ayayi had six of those assists and three Gonzaga players had four or more. Gideon George scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds in a losing effort for BYU.

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