alt=Jeff CallRemember back in November, when BYU tipped off the season with 20 or more turnovers in three of its first four games?
Since then, the Cougars have experienced plenty of struggles with holding onto the ball, an issue that has been well-chronicled.
But it’s early February now, and BYU appears to be turning things around in the turnover department.
In the Cougars’ 81-66 victory over Pacific Saturday night at the Marriott Center, they had only nine turnovers — two nights after a season-low seven turnovers in a 89-61 triumph over Loyola Marymount.
Not only that, but BYU forced 18 Tiger turnovers Saturday and scored 27 points off those turnovers.
Other key numbers that the Cougars turned in Saturday included 12 steals (four by Spencer Johnson), five blocks, 14 offensive rebounds, a 40-22 scoring advantage in the paint, a 14-10 edge in second-chance points and an 18-6 advantage in fast break points.
BYU also held Pacific (12-13, 5-5) to 38.5% shooting from the field.
It helped, too, that Fousseyni Traore (19 points, 12 rebounds) and Gideon George (12 points, 10 rebounds) both recorded double-doubles.
Meanwhile, Rudi Williams had 11 points and two assists off the bench, Jaxson Robinson also contributed 11 points and two blocks off the bench and Dallin Hall added seven points and four assists.
Just as impressively, the Cougars’ point guards, Hall and Williams, finished with zero turnovers.
What’s been the difference with the significant improvement with turnovers?
“It’s been a team effort. There’s a couple things that are really important that my guys are talking to me about every day,” said coach Mark Pope. “First of all, they’re like, ‘Coach, we’ve got to make simpler, quicker decisions in transition.’ The second thing, Rudi and Dallin, I don’t even recognize these guys from a month ago.
“These guys have gained real some mastery over what they’re doing. It’s fun to watch,” Pope added. “I thought Rudi was incredible with his decision-making tonight, as well as Dallin was. (Gideon) is pushing the ball in transition because he grabs every rebound. He’s kept his decision-making super simple, and simple is great.”
The complexion of the game changed dramatically in the final minutes of the first half.
Pope emptied his bench after three starters (Traore, Johnson and Noah Waterman) picked up two fouls each.
One player who provided a spark off the bench was Richie Saunders, whose contributions included a sequence in which he made a steal and threw a pretty pass to Williams for a layup, followed by four straight free throws to give the Cougars a 21-15 lead.
“It was super important tonight because we had three guys sitting with two fouls early. We expanded the rotation,” Pope said about getting strong performances up and down the roster.
“It’s a real luxury not to have to tighten the rotation but expand it when we need to like that. Richie gave us tremendous minutes. Trey (Stewart) gave us tremendous minutes in the first half.”
But Pacific managed to take the lead with four minutes left in the half, 30-29.
BYU responded by scoring the final 12 points of the half, including back-to-back 3s by Robinson and Saunders.
The run started with an and-one basket by Atiki Ally Atiki. George grabbed an offensive rebound off the miss and kicked the ball to Robinson for a 3.
“Richie had a tough (defensive) assignment,” Pope said. “He plays so hard … His whole heart is in this thing, just like all these guys.”
Pope added that Saunders and Stewart “were leading us on the defensive end … It’s hard to see for players, parents, fans and media, but we need everybody and everybody has an opportunity to make an impact on the game, and those guys made a huge impact. I’m really proud of what they did tonight.”
With 33 seconds left in the first half, George blocked a shot and threw a pass to Saunders for a layup.
Saunders finished the half with a game-high nine points. Though he didn’t score in the second half, he finished with three assists and two steals.
The Cougars led at intermission 41-30.
“We got some stuff in transition, which helped us score. It was a really big four-minute stretch,” Pope added. “We’ve had a lot of success in the first four minutes coming out of halftime, but this was probably our best four-minute stretch going in.”
Williams said BYU’s steals and blocks help “us get out on transition and accumulate easy baskets because of that.”
In the second half, BYU (16-10, 6-5) didn’t let up, expanding its lead to 16 a little more than a minute into the half.
The Cougars led by as many as 24 points at 81-57 with three minutes remaining.
“At one point, we got a triple kill — nine stops in a row,” Williams said. “Guys kind of stopped worrying about the offensive end. We limited them in transition. We held them to one shot and made them shoot tough shots and we stopped fouling in the last couple of minutes.”
Said Pope about Pacific: “They’ve played everyone in the league now and nobody has held them under 80 (points) except San Francisco on the road and us twice.”
George praised his teammates for their efforts.
“Fouss getting a double-double tonight and being a beast on the offensive glass and just protecting the ball,” he said. “Richie bringing energy off the bench … I’m really proud of this group.”
And Pope is proud of his players for their vast improvement when it comes to turnovers. It’s a trend he wants to see continue the rest of the season.
“We’ve got to keep going because it makes a difference for us,” he said. “I’m super happy about the turnover numbers. We hope it can continue.”
BYU visits Pepperdine Thursday.
TIP-INS: Announced attendance was 14,431 … Robinson has now hit at least one 3-pointer in 13 consecutive games … BYU made 16 of 27 free throws while Pacific hit 20 of 24 from the charity stripe … The officials called a total of 49 fouls — 24 on the Tigers, 25 on the Cougars … Pacific entered the night with a 7-3 road record this season, compared to 5-9 at home. BYU beat Pacific 69-49 in its WCC opener back on Dec. 29.