With a game abruptly canceled earlier in the week and four long days on the road, BYU coach Mark Pope apparently took advantage of some free time and decided to tinker with his starting line-up.
For Thursday’s game in Portland, Pope moved junior Gideon George and freshman Caleb Lohner from bench roles to starter status in place of Trevin Knell and Kolby Lee.
And during his first career start, George enjoyed a career night at the Chiles Center.
The 6-foot-6 native of Nigeria scored 19 points in his career in 8-of-12 shooting from the floor, collected 13 rebounds, had three assists, grabbed twice and had zero turnovers – in just 21 minutes of action.
George defeated the Pilots alone, 13-12, as part of an almost flawless team effort when the Cougars crushed the Pilots 105-60.
“He has been so great for our team. He grows. He’s done a good job taking advantage of the opportunities he’s had, ”Pope told BYU Radio Network. Obviously, we’ve known for a long time that he has a huge ceiling. This is another very positive step for him. He is a delight in every facet of our program. “
It was George’s second career as a cougar. He had 13 points and 15 rebounds against St. John’s in December. George is just living his dream.
“At home in Nigeria, I stayed up all night to watch NCAA games and NBA games,” said George. “Being able to play here now has been a blessing to me and my friends who are watching me at home. I don’t take anything for granted. “
George found out on Wednesday that he would start. What did Pope tell him?
“He just wanted me to bounce the ball back and just play basketball,” George said. “I was ready to go.”
Yes, he was. In the first half, he scored 10 points and pulled down six planks.
For Lohner it was his fifth career start and his first since December. He had one of his best games of the season, with 11 points (on 4-of-5 shots) and six rebounds.
Pope got the production he wanted from Lohner and George when he switched the starting lineup, knowing that a huge showdown with No. 1 Gonzaga looms at the Marriott Center Monday night.
“It’s kind of that point in the season where these newer guys, it’s time for them to act,” said Pope. “There was some thinking about the rearrangement of the Zags game that was coming up and some were thinking about the progress they were making and some were thinking about the possibility they had to get an idea of playing a game. to start. I was so proud of those guys because they responded. ”
BYU, which took a thrilling double win over Pacific last Saturday before Tuesday’s game in San Diego was canceled hours before the tip, made up for some lost time. The Cougars took some frustration out of humble Portland.
BYU (15-4, 6-2) dominated this game in every way.
The Cougars came out against the Pilots 46-12.
“We were great bouncing the ball back as a group,” said Pope.
BYU defeated Portland in the paint 48-16. The Cougars shot a total of 63% off the floor, knocking down 15 of the 24 three-pointers. And they had 22 assists on 42 made baskets.
OK, now we’re pausing this analysis to put this BYU win in perspective.
Portland (6-11, 0-8) has now lost nine consecutive games. The beleaguered pilots are now 1-48 in their last 49 games against opponents from the West Coast Conference. BYU has now won eleven from Portland, dating back to 2016.
Still, the Cougars did what they had to do – and then some.
Including George and Lohner, BYU saw six players score in double digits. Matt Haarms finished with 15 points and six rebounds. After scoring all nine field goals in last month’s win over Portland, he went off the floor 6 of 9 on Thursday.
Brandon Averette also scored 15 points and provided five assists. Alex Barcello had 12 points, three rebounds and four assists. Connor Harding added 12 points on 5-of-6 shots from the field. Knell scored nine points on three of the four three-pointers and collected five rebounds. Spencer Johnson had eight points, including a pair of threes.
BYU broke open the game early with a 10-0 run, including 3s by Haarms and Knell that gave it a 23-11 lead. The Cougars ended the half with a run of 14-0 to take a 52-30 lead in the locker room at half time. At the time, BYU had hit 20 of 30 shots from the field, including 7 of 11 of 3.
In the second half, the Cougars continued to pull out of Portland and were eventually led by a whopping 47.
George’s performance was certainly a good sign for a BYU team watching its first NCAA Tournament appearance in six years.
Two of George’s statistics that stood out to Pope the most? First, no turnover.
“That was my favorite song of the night,” said Pope. “We’ve spent a lot of time – he and I and Coach (Nick) Robinson together – looking at all of his minutes in every game, breaking every second on the floor. We have emphasized three things. The main one is that if he can take care of this ball, it will broaden his minutes. He really worked on it, tried to make good decisions in court and he certainly did tonight. Zero sales is a spectacular number that is super important to our team. “
The other impressive number? George returned from Portland alone, 13-12.
“I’ve never seen that stat in my life,” said Pope. “He rebounded the whole (other) team with one. That is unbelievable. He was spectacular tonight. “