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Scoring an upset win over No. 6 Iowa State this past weekend bought BYU a great deal of goodwill.
But just three days later, it’s all gone.
The No. 19-ranked Cougars fell 97-84 Tuesday night at home to UCF, and in doing so lost much more than just a basketball game — they squandered all of their existing momentum, along with much of the optimism and belief held by fans regarding the team’s March potential.
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Such feelings were made clear by the boos heard from members of the Marriott Center crowd throughout the frustration-filled night.
“I hope there was a level of embarrassment and just unacceptable (feelings),” Cougars head coach Kevin Young said of his players hearing the booing. “I wasn’t upset with the fans. Our fans are incredible, you know? They deserve to see a product that has a lot more effort than what our guys showed tonight.”
Heavily-favored BYU didn’t lead for one second against UCF. The Cougars, winners of their previous 16 home matchups with unranked opponents, instead surrendered 97 points in their own building to a Knights squad playing without its leading scorer.
UCF opened on a 14-4 run after less than four minutes. The Knights held a 24-point halftime advantage and led by 36 early in the second half before taking their foot off the gas and allowing BYU to make the final score appear more respectable.
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But the eye test won’t fool anyone. For the majority of the game, the Cougars played as poorly as they ever have under Young.
In this writer’s opinion, not since either BYU’s 80-57 flop against San Diego in the 2019 West Coast Conference tournament or a 75-60 home loss to Utah Valley in 2022 has the program experienced such an abashing individual result.
“We were sleepwalking out there,” Young said. “It’s hard to pinpoint, but I didn’t expect that in the slightest. I’m super disappointed in our guys, super disappointed in myself and our coaches. It just was a night that was not good all around, there was…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/analysis-upstart-inspired-ucf-punks-082525201.html
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Publish date : 2026-02-25 08:25:00
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