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KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Prior to Thursday, BYU fans hadn’t been able to see much of Kennard Davis Jr. on the court this season.
The Southern Illinois transfer had only appeared in two games and was out of action for the past 19 days — first for an injury, and then for serving a suspension after a violation of team rules.
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But just over an hour prior to the Cougars’ Thanksgiving matchup with Miami at the ESPN Events Invitational at Walt Disney World in Florida, BYU announced that Davis had served his two-game suspension and would make his return against the Hurricanes.
It ended up being a major boost for the Cougars.
Davis led all scorers with 18 points Thursday, adding five rebounds, hitting four catch-and-shoot 3-pointers and playing excellent defense in BYU’s 72-62 win over Miami.
“That’s what we brought Kennard Davis here to do, is really guard and to make shots,” BYU head coach Kevin Young told reporters after the victory.
Eleven of Davis’ 18 points and three of his triples came after halftime, playing a crucial role in helping the Cougars dig out of a 4-point halftime hole en route to the 10-point triumph.
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Davis’ second 3-pointer of the night put BYU ahead 42-40 with just under 16 minutes left to play in the second half. From that point on, the Cougars would never relinquish the lead again.
“With Keba (Keita) rolling to the rim, and AJ (Dybantsa) getting downhill, we have a lot of things that (opponents) have to worry about, so a guy like Kennard is going to have a lot of opportunities to make shots,” Young said.
“Obviously he did that tonight, (he) made some huge ones, too. I’m proud of his resilience and just proud of the way he goes about his business.”
After trailing 33-29 at halftime, BYU opened the second half on a 30-12 run and never looked back. Davis’ aforementioned go-ahead 3-pointer kickstarted a 10-0 Cougars run where Miami failed to score across a five-minute stretch, all but tipping the scales in BYU’s favor…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/analysis-returning-suspension-kennard-davis-025500076.html
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Publish date : 2025-11-28 02:55:00
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