Egor Demin is in a hurry to get up to ‘American’ speed

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BYU guard Egor Demin looks to pass the ball while he’s guarded by UC Riverside guard Barrington Hargress (24) during game held at the Marriott Center Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU’s top gun has a need for speed. It’s not that Egor Demin is slow, far from it. But it’s the fact that the American game is so fast, especially at the Big 12 level, that it has knocked him off his game. The Russian phenom is in a hurry to catch up.

The freshman debuts of Demin and Finland’s Timo Saarelainen are separated by 45 years, but the challenge Saarelainen faced in 1980 still exists for Demin 2025 — speed. While Europeans are advanced in basketball fundamentals, the American game is faster and that has Demin straddling continents.

“The speed impacts both ends of the floor,” said Saarelainen, who played in 100 games at BYU between 1980-85. “The passing lanes shrink, the wide-open shots diminish, offense moves faster, defense is more difficult, and players have to work harder for what used to come easy. That, in turn, creates doubt and a loss of confidence — two bad things in a young brain.”

Demin has advanced skills, but his young brain doesn’t turn 19 until March 3. His last three games against aggressive, power-conference foes, Providence, Arizona State and Houston, have rattled his fundamentals, just as Saarelainen’s debut shook him decades before Demin was born.

The numbers don’t lie. Demin is outside of himself. The projected NBA lottery pick, who missed a couple of weeks in December with a sore knee, has made just three of his last 24 shots and has missed 13 consecutive 3-point attempts. Over his last 78 minutes of game action, Demin has 13 points and nine turnovers.

Two of the three games (Providence and Houston) resulted in blowout defeats on the road, while dozens of NBA scouts watched from the stands. Expectations are wildly high, and pressure is building. This is a game-changing time for the teen whose challenge, according to his…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/egor-demin-hurry-american-speed-200000478.html

Author : Deseret News

Publish date : 2025-01-06 20:00:00

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