"We're on to Cincinnati."
Those were the immortal words of former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick back in 2014 after a humbling 41-14 loss to to the Kansas City Chiefs. When asked in the postgame press conference about the disaster that just unfolded on the field, rather than reflecting on an embarrassing loss the legendary coach would only look forward to the team's next contest against the Bengals.
That bad loss dropped the Patriots to a disappointing 2-2 on the season. But they still had Tom Brady at quarterback, and the Pats went on to win the Super Bowl that year.
For BYU hoops, Kevin Young's team just had their "41-14 loss to the Chiefs" moment this past Tuesday in a blowout loss to UCF at home. The Cougars need to pull a Belichick now and simply repeat to themselves:
"We're on to West Virginia."
BYU's defensive performance will be key
As we previously covered in the preview of this game, West Virginia has had a similar season to the BYU Cougars this year. They've had some great wins like a victory over Kansas, and some head scratching losses like a recent loss at Utah. The Mountaineers are separated from the Cougars by just one game in the Big 12 standings. Their roster is solid from top to bottom, but they lack the high-end individual offense BYU has in AJ Dybantsa and Robert Wright III.
BYU's defense is going to be key in this one. West Virginia has an elite defense that ranks 23rd nationally, but their offense ranks a ho-hum 146th. BYU will find ways to score, but will their defense show up?
BYU can win this road game if they simply defend the 3-point line against the Mountaineers, which has been easier said than done for this iteration of the Cougars. West Virginia as a team shoots just 33.4% from the 3-point line which ranks 227th nationally. Despite the low percentage, they still hoist 23.5 attempts per game from deep.
If BYU can pressure West Virginia to shoot below 30% from the 3-point line, the Cougars will win this game. That's a tall task since the Mountaineers are playing in the friendly confines of their home arena, but the Cougs have to figure out how to pressure shots from deep. If they just leave shooters open for uncontested 3s, history has already shown us that even below-average shooters can suddenly look like Steph Curry against BYU's defense.
If the Cougars defense, which is overseen by assistant coach Will Voigt, allows West Virginia to go something like 11-of-25 from deep -- which is a real possibility given their recent lackluster perimeter defense -- BYU will lose a game they can ill afford to drop.
While the stench of the UCF debacle still hangs in the Marriott Center, there's no reason to look back. BYU's defensive effort won't be perfect, but it will be just good enough to right the ship in an important Big 12 road game.
"We're on to West Virginia!"