Nearly halfway through Kevin Young's 1st season, BYU still looking for go-to guy

PROVO — No question: BYU basketball has brought in a lot of talent in Kevin Young's first season.

The Cougars brought in a five-star recruit in Egor Demin, who is rated the No. 8 overall prospect in the 2025 NBA draft by ESPN.com, and four-star freshman Kanon Catchings, another potential draft pick averaging 10.4 points per game on 40.8% shooting.

Demin, who is scoring 11.4 points per game in 11 games this season after missing the end of nonconference play with a knee injury, is one of four freshmen in the country averaging 5.0 assists or better as the 6-foot-9 Moscow native leads the Big 12 with 6.0 dimes per game.

Returning talent Richie Saunders leads the Cougars in scorer with 12.9 points per game as he's made his transition from the bench to the starting lineup in 13 games, and Fousseyni Traore has perhaps been BYU's most consistently player while averaging 10.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game primarily off the bench.

But the Cougars are riding a two-game losing skid and 1-2 start to conference play ahead of Saturday's tipoff at TCU (12 p.m. MST, ESPN2) — which is an unbeaten 8-0 at Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. Young projected Tuesday's 72-67 loss to Texas Tech that snapped BYU's 14-game unbeaten streak at home on "bad" late-game defense and an inability to guard Red Raiders star Darrion Williams in one-on-one situations.

But when it comes to the Cougars' own late-game takeover, the first-year collegiate head coach was at more of a loss, admitting shortly "that's fair" in assuming BYU (10-4, 1-2 Big 12) is still looking for a go-to scorer in crunch time.

Asked to consider a potential scorer, Young named off a short list of players on a team shooting 47.7% from the field, 35% from 3-point range — and just 68% from the free-throw line, including 34-of-47 foul shots during conference play.

"Fouss is a guy we've played through lately," he said. "Dawson (Baker) has been out there, and I've gone with Trevin (Knell) and Mag a bit more; but he's a guy who possesses the skills you can play through when he's out there. I think Egor is still trying to figure out where his best spots are to score the basketball. That is one thing that is tough with the group we have; we don't have a ton of break-you-off-the-dribble guys, and in close games, you need that.

"We have to be a bit more creative offensively, where I can put these guys in better positions."

Defensively, BYU has relied on Rutgers transfer Mawot Mag. But the 6-foot-7 graduate transfer from Melbourne, Australia, has also been a spark on offense in averaging 14.4 points per game through the last five games.

"His energy is what he does. He came in and played really hard. It's not just one-on-one defense, but he's really good off the ball, too, in terms of knowing the schemes," Young said.

"He's helped us quite a bit."

Is it concerning that the Cougars haven't found that "go-to" quite yet? The midway point of the season is coming, ahead of next week's home game Tuesday with Oklahoma State followed by consecutive road games at in-state rival Utah and Colorado.

Is there panic after the 1-2 start to Big 12 play?

"I feel like it's a good learning experience," Mag said. "You can't change the past, so you've got to just learn from it, bounce back, and use that as motivation for the next game. Go from there, and control what you can control."

Mag said the team's confidence is "still hot" heading into the game against TCU.

"I feel like we have all the players we need and all the tools," he said. "I feel the coaches do a great job of staying to the game plan. I feel like it's just a little adversity; it's not really about how you start, it's about how you finish. I feel like we still have enough time to play good ball and win. ... We're going to head to TCU with great confidence. I feel like you've got to have confidence. I feel like we'll be fine."

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