BYU basketball head coach Kevin Young intends to generate as many shots from beyond the arc as possible in his offense. According to statistics and playstyle, this is what Cougar fans should be expecting. “3-Y-U” is making a return.
The coaching staff got busy in the offseason and added lots of new faces through the transfer portal and recruiting pool. There were 10 new acquisitions to be exact. A closer look at a majority of these additions show the focus is generating 3-point looks and dribble penetration.
Departures by way of the transfer portal include Kennard Davis Jr., Aleksej Kostic, Tyler Mrus, Dominique Diomande. The shooting was subpar from this group as they combined to shoot 32% from 3-point land (102 of 318) last season. The Cougars improved on that during the offseason and that will show Monday night against the Buckeyes.
Notable transfer portal acquisitions that will upgrade the shooting woes include Collin Chandler, Tyler Betsey, Jake Wahlin and Jaxon Kohler. What did they combine to shoot from three last season? A clean 39% on 550 combined attempts. It feels like a breath of fresh air is coming in that department, especially if we also account for retaining improved shooter and point guard Robert Wright III and sixth-year senior Dawson Baker.
Here are the teams with the most elite 3PT shooters on their roster, based on preseason projections at https://t.co/Zc0pvHlJ75:
— Evan Miyakawa (@EvanMiya) October 28, 2026
BYU has FIVE guys on the list 👇 pic.twitter.com/k4VvV0oQhT
Chandler shot 46% from three during SEC play in his sophomore season at Kentucky. Betsey made 44% of his threes at Syracuse against ACC opponents. Kohler pick-and-pops should be a thing of beauty, because he was one shy of the 40% mark last season at Michigan State. Baker is a career 38% from three and Wright III improved his marksmanship tremendously by shooting 41% on triples in his first season as a Cougar.
Oh and not to mention the freshmen will bring some sharpshooting and fit right into the scheme. The one we will be seeing a lot of 5-star recruit Bruce Branch III can score at all three levels and shot create on his own. From distance, Branch III drained 39% of his 3-point shots during the Adidas 3SSB Circuit this past summer. True freshman forward Dean Rueckert had a 38% clip throughout his career at Timpview. Brooks Bahr made 36% of his trifectas during his high school. It is hard to tell how much Rueckert and Bahr will see the floor throughout the season, but they bring what Young is looking for.
Do not forget about Nate Pickens, transfer out of UC Riverside who missed all of last year due to injury. He shot 39% from downtown in his final season as a Highlander.
Richie Saunders’ 39% career 3-point mark will sorely be missed, but we have troops coming in to fill that role in a surplus.
The Cougars’ two public exhibition games should be a solid indication of this. BYU averaged over 30 3-point attempts in those contests. Almost half of its field goal attempts were from behind the arc. Based on how the roster is constructed and the style of play in those contests, there will be a lot of Wright III operating in the pick-and-roll or pick-and-pop game with Kohler and spraying the ball around on dribble drives. This team will display some nice balance, cohesion and ball movement in what I expect to be a shootout and a tight win.
BYU 87, Ohio State 82
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