HOUSTON — BYU was unable to overcome a hounding Houston defense and fell 86-55 to the 14th-ranked Cougars in red on Saturday afternoon at the Fertitta Center.
Trouble with turnovers and rebounding proved the gamechanger in Houston’s favor with 10 first-half BYU turnovers turning into 17 points for UH. For the game, Houston turned BYU over 15 times, resulting in 24 points including a 13-4 advantage in the fastbreak.
UH controlled the glass with a 37-24 rebounding differential over BYU. Houston’s 15-7 command of the offensive glass and 18-7 lead in second-chance points also proved costly for BYU.
Houston finished the game shooting 49-percent from the field to BYU’s 38. Sixteen UH 3-pointers on 34 attempts outdid BYU’s 8-of-24. Eleven Houston makes from distance silenced BYU’s comeback effort in the second half.
Trevin Knell led BYU with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc. Richie Saunders and Dallin Hall followed with nine and seven points, respectively.
First Half
BYU’s first-half struggles with both turnovers and rebounding were a recipe for a 39-22 halftime deficit.
Facing relentless pressure from the UH defense, BYU suffered 10 first-half turnovers resulting in 17 points the other way for the Cougars in red. BYU’s defense forced five Houston turnovers, but its offense scored just three points on the takeaways.
UH controlled the paint in the first half with a 20-12 rebounding advantage, including 10-3 on the offensive glass leading to an 8-1 Houston lead in second-chance scoring. BYU’s six points in the paint were dwarfed by UH’s 18.
Three minutes in, BYU and Houston were tied at four after a driving score from Egor Demin and Keba Keita finishing for a score at the rim. UH then generated a 12-2 run over a three-minute stretch with 11 points off five BYU turnovers.
The Cougars in blue got their deficit back to single-digits at 16-9 as Mihailo Boskovic passed out of a double team and found Knell crosscourt for a 3-pointer. Knell brought BYU back within seven at 19-12 moments later on another triple, this one on a helper from a driving Demin.
Treys from Kanon Catchings and Knell along with a Fousseyni Traore swat and Saunders fastbreak score, helped BYU come within 13 at 35-22 but UH found one more 4-0 run to lead 39-22 at the break.
Houston closed the opening frame shooting 45-percent from the field to BYU’s 36. Knell led BYU at the half with nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range.
Second Half
BYU started the second half strong with a 3-pointer from Hall but got no closer than down 39-25 as Houston heated up from 3-point range, going 11-of-18 in the second half. UH finished the half 15-of-28 from the field to BYU’s 10-of-26, including 4-of-10 from beyond the arc.
Rebounding continued to go Houston’s way with the home team outrebounding BYU 17-12 in the second half. Despite turning the ball over just five times in the half, the giveaways came early and proved costly for BYU as Houston responded to Hall’s opening 3-pointer with a 12-0 run and led to the final buzzer.
Second-half highlights for the BYU included Dawson Baker fighting through contact for consecutive driving lay-ins, an old-fashioned 3-point play from Saunders and personal 5-0 run from Boskovic to finish the game.
BYU returns to the Marriott Center on Jan. 7 for a matchup with Texas Tech at 7 p.m. MST. Watch the Cougars face the Red Raiders on ESPN+ or listen to live play-by-play on BYU Radio.