BYU men’s basketball rolls into its second week of the season Wednesday night, as they take on the Queens Royals for their third game of the season. Following a closer-than-desired game against UC Riverside, the Cougars will be eyeing to make a statement win.
The story through two games for BYU has been Egor Demin. The freshman has led the Cougars in points and assists in both of their games, rising in draft boards across the country. He’s already one of the best floor generals in the game at just 18 years old, and has been making a number of highlight plays for the Cougars.
One of BYU’s biggest weaknesses this season so far has been generating offense when Demin is on the bench. The Cougars were -6 in total points when he sat against UC Riverside, mainly a result of a first half Highlander run. The eventual return of starting point guard Dallin Hall will certainly help alleviate this problem, but the Cougars will have to make do in the meantime.
But Demin has been far from the only contributor through two games. Keba Keita and Fousseyni Traore have formed an excellent frontcourt tag team thus far, finishing lobs and dominating on the glass. Richie Saunders and Kanon Catchings have also been great and have demonstrated some of the best shot creation abilities on the team.
Quick Queens Scouting Report
As for their opponent, Queens represents a bit of a step down from UC Riverside. The Royals were picked ninth in the preseason ASUN poll and sit at 284th on Kenpom. They’ll be heavy underdogs, as Vegas favors BYU by 28.5 points, and ESPN gives the Cougars a 97.5% chance to win the game. The Royals were within seven of the Utes early in the second half of Tuesday night's game, but Utah ran away from that point, winning 96-65.
For the Royals, keep an eye on senior Malcolm Wilson. The seven footer will play a key role matching up against Traore and Keita. He’s recorded 18 blocks through his first three games this season while also recording 9.7 rebounds per game. Wilson is quieter on the offensive end, but the former Georgetown Hoya certainly possesses the ability to shut things down near the rim.
Offensively for Queens, the Cougars will have to defend Chris Ashby and Asjon Anderson. Ashby sits near 40% shooting the 3 ball for his career, and has not been afraid to let it fly this season. Anderson is also not afraid to launch it, but can also drive it to the rim and get to the line. His 10 free throws helped the Royals down Western Carolina on Friday night.
Queens as a whole doesn’t shoot it great though. If the Cougars can force everyone but Ashby to shoot and keep the Royals off of the free throw line, they’ll be in great shape to get win number three. Another key for the Cougars will be to win their front court matchups against Wilson. If they continue to challenge him to no avail, the Royals will stay in the game longer than expected. If BYU dominates in the front court, or just avoids that matchup altogether, then they can really take off in this game.
It will still be a couple weeks until BYU is really tested. But they’ll certainly want to improve on their previous performance and shut down the upset bid from the Royals.