BYU Basketball” 3 keys to No. 25 BYU’s 78-71 victory over No. 11 Baylor | Top Vip News

BYU held serve at home in a crucial Big 12 Conference basketball game Tuesday night, holding off Baylor 78-71 at the Marriott Center in front of a crowd of 17,978.

The No. 25 Cougars hit 14 3-pointers and got 16 points from Jaxson Robinson to avenge an 81-72 loss to the No. 11 Bears in Waco, Texas, last month.

The Cougars improved to 7-6 in the league, 19-7 overall, and won their fourth straight home game.

The Bears fell to 8-5 and 19-7.

Here are 3 keys to the Cougars’ victory:

• The key statistic of the game was second chance points. The Cougars grabbed 16 offensive rebounds and converted them into 20 second-chance points. Baylor had just four second-chance points.

BYU big man Aly Khalifa went 4-of-6 from 3-point range, finishing with 14 points. He also added seven rebounds and seven assists as the Cougars outrebounded the Bears 39-30.

• Miro Little committed what the officials ruled was a flagrant 1 foul (it looked like Little missed, at least a little) on Richie Saunders and made a pair of free throws to give Baylor a 27-21 lead with seven minutes left. in the first half. .

But the iffy call woke up the Cougars, and they went on an 8-0 run to take their first lead, 29-27, with 5:33 left in the half. BYU rebounded with second-chance points, outscoring the visitors 13-0 in that category in the first half.

BYU shot 38% from 3-point range (8 of 21) to also help it take a 42-37 halftime lead.

• Jalen Bridges lit up BYU for 25 points (17 in the second half) in the Bears’ 81-72 win in Waco, but for some reason the Cougars left the guard alone for a 3-pointer just 20 seconds into the game . Bridges’ shot got the visitors going, and they quickly took an 18-10 lead.

Baylor made nine of its first 11 shots and looked like it was going to take the Cougars out of the Marriott Center gym early. They finished the half shooting 54% (13 of 24), cooling off considerably after that strong start.

Bridges led the Bears with 15 points, but Baylor made just five of 20 three-point shots.