Kevin Young needs to find a closer

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BYU head coach Kevin Young talks with his players before a game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys held at the Marriott Center in Provo on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

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BYU’s basketball team is still looking for an alpha dog closer heading into a trip to Colorado and a home game against Cincinnati this week. This was evident in the Cougars’ loss at Utah in overtime, where there were numerous chances to close out the Utes that failed. It’s been a theme for this team, especially on the road as free-throw woes continue. Here’s my piece on this challenge.

Young told reporters this week he was close to figuring things out. A consistent theme in BYU’s close losses have been failure to make a play or two. This happened against Ole Miss, Texas Tech, TCU and Utah. The other losses at Providence and Houston were simply blowouts.

“I think we have had a great sense of urgency,” said Young. “I don’t think that has been something where we have fallen short. When losses stack up things naturally get a little bit tighter. I want our guys to know how confident we are in them.”

Question of the week

Who should be Kevin Young’s go-to guy in crunch time and why?

Jay Drew: Not having a legitimate go-to guy has hurt BYU time and again this season, as I have outlined several times, including after the loss to Texas Tech at the Marriott Center. While the Red Raiders had Darrion Williams, BYU had no established leader to go to, and saw their 14-game home winning streak snapped.

The top candidate for BYU should be Richie Saunders, who also happens to be the Cougars’ best player at this point in the season. Obviously, Saunders didn’t get enough late touches in the overtime loss to Utah, although if you go back and watch the film, the Cougars were clearly trying to get the ball to the redshirt junior.

The reason why Saunders should be the…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/kevin-young-needs-closer-184500607.html

Author : Deseret News

Publish date : 2025-01-22 18:45:00

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