BYU hoisted a school-record 43 attempts behind the 3-point arc in its season opener Monday night, and coach Mark Pope joked that it would have been 44 if Trevin Knell didn’t have a toe on the line.
The Cougars made 15 and drilled Houston Christian (formerly Houston Baptist) 110-63 at the Marriott Center in Provo.
Next up in the 18,987-seat arena at 4,650 feet on Friday night is San Diego State, which attempted 31 3s (and made nine) in its 83-57 win against Cal State Fullerton. That’s three more attempts than against any Division I opponent last season, and 17 more than against BYU.
“Some coaches go into a game saying they want to shoot 30 3s per game,” Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher said. “I’m not saying that, but it seems to be happening. We’ll see what that is for us going forward, if we’re able to make enough. If we do, we’re going to be really good.”
BYU has taken it to another level. The Cougars were picked to finish 13th in their first season in the 14-team Big 12, regarded as the nation’s best basketball conference, and Pope has been vocal in his assertion that the great equalizer can be the 3-ball.
“This is a staple of who we want to be,” Pope said after the Cougars rang up the most points in his five years as head coach. “It’s really important this year that we make teams guard us 50 by 27 (feet), not 50 by 22. That extra 250 feet on the court is going to make the difference whether we can be really functional and really effective offensively or we can’t. That is super important for us.
“We’re not going to be able to get up 43 3s up in a lot of games, but we’re going to fight to get them up.”
Knell, playing his first game in 593 days after shoulder surgery cost him last season, was 5 of 9 behind the arc and had 19 points. Spencer Johnson had a career-high 20, as five Cougars finished in double figures. Six different players connected from deep, including three each from Noah Waterman and Jaxson Robinson.
Said Knell: “Everyone on the team can shoot it.”
The flip side: The Aztecs held opponents to 28.3 percent shooting behind the line last season, fourth best in the nation. Fullerton was 5 of 24 (20.8 percent) on Monday.
“We have to hope they don’t make 10 or 12 of them,” Dutcher said, “or it’s going to be a long night.”
Injury update
SDSU received good news on the Darrion Trammell front, with the senior guard going through a full practice Wednesday for the first time since an old shoulder injury flared up Oct. 8.
“If we had been playing for the national championship tonight, he’d have been in there,” Dutcher said after Monday’s game. “But it’s a long season. I have to be careful with him. We’ll get him some practice reps this week and see if he’s ready for Provo. It will be truly a game-time decision.”
Also questionable is sophomore guard Miles Byrd, who played Monday despite a pulled groin and didn’t practice Wednesday.
Signing day
Wednesday was the first day for high school recruits to sign national letters of intent in the November window. The Aztecs announced two on social media Wednesday: Taj Degourville and Pharaoh Compton from Las Vegas. Another commit, 7-footer David Majak, is expected to be formally introduced later this week.
Remember him?
Former SDSU wing Chad Baker-Mazara made his debut for Auburn after spending last season at a junior college in Florida. He showed a lot of the same attributes as he did with the Aztecs.
In 12 minutes of an 88-82 loss against Baylor in Sioux Falls, S.D., Baker-Mazara had seven points, two rebounds, two steals … and a flagrant foul for throwing an elbow. But he already has become something of a fan favorite after a 15-point performance, second most on the team, in a lopsided exhibition win against Div. II Auburn-Montgomery last week.
A bat delay
Nevada’s opener at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno was delayed for several minutes in the second half for … bats?
They have been a problem for the last few years, particularly in the fall, and they started buzzing players after Sacramento State cut a 17-point deficit to five as the game entered crunch time. Before the game, staff tried catching the bats with nets or dispersing them with loud noise, to no avail.
“The bat thing is getting pretty embarrassing, and it needs to be fixed,” Wolf Pack coach Steve Alford said. “It’s uncalled for. We are a big-time basketball program, and we shouldn’t be dealing with bats. We shouldn’t have a stoppage of play because we’re dealing with diving bats.”
Dutcher laughed it off.
“That’s why they’re building a new facility,” he said, referring to plans for a new arena at a nearby casino. “They’ve got to get out of the Lawlor Center. They’ve got bats in there. They better have that corrected by the time we go there.”
They’ve got some time. The Aztecs don’t play in Reno until Feb. 9.
