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BYU’s Richie Sanders grabs the ball during the men’s college basketball game against Pepperdine on Saturday, January 14, 2023.
Special to Harold Mitchell/Herald
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BYU’s Husseini Traore (right) shoots Pepperdine’s Carson Basham during the men’s college basketball game at the Marriott Center on Saturday, January 14, 2023.
Special to Harold Mitchell/Herald
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BYU’s Darrin Hall, 30, drives into the basket against Pepperdine during the men’s college basketball game at the Marriott Center on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023.
Special to Harold Mitchell/Herald
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BYU’s Richie Sanders, 15, defends a jump shot by Pepperdine’s Maxwell Lewis during the men’s college basketball game at the Marriott Center on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023.
Special to Harold Mitchell/Herald
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BYU’s Darrin Hall walks to the basket during the men’s college basketball game against Pepperdine at the Marriott Center on Saturday, January 14, 2023.
Special to Harold Mitchell/Herald
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BYU’s Spencer Johnson, 20, defends Pepperdine during the men’s college basketball game at the Marriott Center on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023.
Special to Harold Mitchell/Herald
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BYU’s Richie Sanders grabs the ball during the men’s college basketball game against Pepperdine on Saturday, January 14, 2023.
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BYU’s Husseini Traore (right) shoots Pepperdine’s Carson Basham during the men’s college basketball game at the Marriott Center on Saturday, January 14, 2023.
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BYU’s Darrin Hall, 30, drives into the basket against Pepperdine during the men’s college basketball game at the Marriott Center on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023.
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BYU’s Richie Sanders, 15, defends a jump shot by Pepperdine’s Maxwell Lewis during the men’s college basketball game at the Marriott Center on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023.
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BYU’s Darrin Hall walks to the basket during the men’s college basketball game against Pepperdine at the Marriott Center on Saturday, January 14, 2023.
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BYU’s Spencer Johnson, 20, defends Pepperdine during the men’s college basketball game at the Marriott Center on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023.
One of the classic college basketball mistakes is turning one loss into two.
(“Never foul a jump shooter whose match is imminent” is not well known.)
BYU dropped a heartbreaker to No. 8 Gonzaga on Thursday, and on Saturday struggled to clean up the Pepperdine team, who have not won a road trip in almost two seasons.
Clinging to a five-point lead with about five minutes remaining, “their comeback against the Zags,” the Cougars now put the game away, winning 91-81 in front of 14,434 fans at the Marriott Center.
The key for BYU was forgetting about Gonzaga in the 48 hours between games (not easy).
“It’s very emotional after a match like that,” said Cougar Jr. Spencer Johnson. “You’re like drinking from the Fountain of Youth and you’re like, ‘Hey, it’s over.’ We’ve been up all night doing whatever it takes to finish this scout and move on. It’s time we learned from it and moved on. “
Six BYU players scored in double digits and needed a village to get over the stubborn waves. Fousseyni Traore had her best performance with 19 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks. Johnson (13 points, 4 steals, 1 million deflections), Darrin Hall (13 points, 7 assists), Richie Sanders (13 points), Jackson Robinson (12 points), Atiki Ali Atiki (11 points) Scored, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks) all had their moments.
There are more.
Redshirt freshman Tanner Hayhurst, who hasn’t played a minute this season, was praised by head coach Mark Pope for a pregame speech based on words from Seattle Seahawks quarterback Gino Smith. .
After leading his team to victory in the season opener against Denver, Smith said: But I won’t reply. “
Apparently, Smith filed a trademark for the quote.
The more you know, the better, right?
“Basically, a lot of people were in denial about us after Thursday’s game,” Hayhurst explained. “But as my good friend Geno Smith said, ‘We don’t reply.’
Pope said, “Tanner Hayhurst is currently undefeated in his pre-match speech and he smashed it today. It was magic. It was so good the guys passed out.
For the record, Hayhurst also gave the pre-game speech for the victory over Idaho State and San Diego.
BYU led Pepperdine 41–28 at halftime and double digits in the second half, but the Waves continued to pull the Cougars back. It was 55-45 after ally Attiki’s offensive rebound, but brought it back with 13:20 remaining, but Pepperdine scored on his eighth straight to move closer to 55-53. Sanders connected on back-to-back 3-pointers and with 10 minutes left he pushed the BYU lead back to he 10, 68-58.
Waves got back into the game with another 8-0 burst to make the score 68-66 with 8:05 remaining. An 8-2 run in which Ali Attiki’s block turned into a putback to the other side of Sanders finally put the Cougars in front a little more comfortably at 77-68 with 5:37 left.
Pepperdine cut the lead to 81-78 with 2:53 remaining, but a driving layup by Johnson and a Dagger three-pointer by Robinson gave BYU an 85-78 advantage with 1:49 remaining.
Houston Mallett led the Waves with 19 points, while Maxwell Lewis scored 18.
“Can you tell me what is useful, what is magic?” said the Pope. “When I get back to the gym, there are nearly 15,000 people here. We’re so blessed with the nation, we could walk into the gym and maybe feel a little dead but not at all it’s kind of like the last part of recovery Thing.
BYU (4-2, 14-7) will head out next Thursday in Santa Clara and Saturday in San Francisco on what the Pope called a “monster road trip.”
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