With a game abruptly canceled earlier this week and four long days on the road, BYU coach Mark Pope apparently made the most of his free time and decided to think of his starting lineup.
Before Thursday’s game in Portland, Pope moved junior Gideon George and freshmen Caleb Lohner from roles to rookie status in place of Trevin Knell and Kolby Lee.
And in his first career, George started a career night at the Chiles Center.
The 6-foot-6 native of Nigeria achieved a career-high 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor, collected 13 rebounds, got three assistants, grabbed two steals and had no turnover – in just 21 minutes of action.
George outscored the Pilots on his own, 13-12, as part of an almost flawless team performance while the Cougars pulverized the Pilots 105-60.
“He was so great to our team. He grows. “He did a great job and took advantage of the opportunities he had,” Pope told the BYU Radio Network. “It simply came to our notice then that he had a large ceiling. This is another positive step for him. He is a joy to have in every facet of our program. ”
It was George’s second career doubling as a Cougar. He had 13 points and 15 rebounds against St. Louis in December. George is simply living his dream.
“Back home in Nigeria, I stayed up all night watching NCAA games and NBA games,” George said. “Being able to play here now is a blessing for me and my friends to watch me at home. I take nothing for granted. ”
George found out on Wednesday that he would start. What did Pope say to 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 off six boards.
For Lohner, it was his fifth start in his career and his first since December. He had one of his best games of the season, and he contributed 11 points (on 4-out-5 shooting) and tackled six rebounds.
Pope got the production he was looking for from Lohner and George when he turned on the starting lineup, because he knew that a big showdown with no. 1 Gonzaga waits in the Marriott Center Monday night.
“It’s kind of that point in the season where these newer guys have time for them to perform,” Pope said. ‘There was thought about rescheduling the Zags game and some thought about the progress they were making, and others thought about the opportunity to get a feel for starting a game. I was very proud of the guys who responded. ”
BYU, who claimed an exciting double-overtime win over the Pacific last Saturday before canceling Tuesday’s game in San Diego hours before hitting, made up for the lost time. The Cougars got a little frustrated about the humble Portland.
BYU (15-4, 6-2) dominated this match in every possible way.
The cougars outscored the pilots 46-12.
“We were great at getting the ball bouncing back as a group,” Pope said.
BYU outscored Portland 48-16 in the paint. The Cougars shot 63% from the floor and kicked 15 of 24 three-pointers. And they had 22 assistants on 42 made baskets.
OK, now we interrupt this analysis to put this BYU victory into perspective.
Portland (6-11, 0-8) have now lost nine consecutive games. The beleagured pilots are now 1-48 in their last 49 games against West Coast Conference opponents. BYU has now won 11 runs over Portland, dating back to 2016.
Still, the Cougars did what they had to do – and then some.
Including George and Lohner, BYU scored six players in double figures. Matt Haarms finishes with 15 points and six rebounds. After scoring all nine of his field goals in Portland’s victory last month, he dropped 6 of 9 off the floor on Thursday.
Brandon Averette also scored 15 points and dished out five assistants. Alex Barcello had 12 points, three rebounds and four assists. Connor Harding added 12 points to the 5-out-of-6 shooting from the field. Knell scored nine points on 3 of 4 three-pointers and collected five rebounds. Spencer Johnson had eight points, including some 3s.
BYU broke open the game early with a 10-0 run that included 3s from Haarms and Knell giving them a 23-11 lead. The Cougars closed out the half at 14-0 to take a 52-30 lead at halftime in the locker room. At that point, BYU hit 20 of 30 shots from the field, including 7 of 11 of 3.
In the second half, the Cougars still pulled away from Portland and eventually led by as many as 47.
George’s performance was definitely a good sign for a BYU team that watched its first NCAA tournament in six years.
Two of George’s statistics that stood out most to Pope? First, no turnover.
“It was my favorite number of the evening,” Pope said. “We spent a lot of time – he and I and coach (Nick) Robinson – looking at all his minutes in every game and breaking down every second on the floor. We emphasized three things. The most important of these is that if he can take care of this ball, it will enlarge his minutes. He really worked on it and tried to make good decisions in court, and he definitely did that tonight. Zero turnover is a spectacular number that is very important to our team. ”
The other impressive number? George reached out to Portland on his own, 13-12.
“I’ve never seen that stat in my life,” Pope said. “He withheld the whole (other) team one. It’s amazing. He was spectacular tonight. ”