UNCASVILLE, Connecticut — Notes and quotes from BYU's 74-68 win over St. Johns on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, in the final game of the Roman Legends Classic presented by Old Trapper.
BYU–St. John’s Game Notes
- BYU is now 4-1 on the year while St. John's suffers its first loss of the season to go to 3-1.
- The Cougars began last season at 4-1 before going on to finish the year at 24-8 and a final national ranking of No. 18/16 in the AP/USA Today Coaches polls.
- St. John’s and BYU have now met nine times in men’s basketball with the Red Storm holding a 7-2 record over the Cougars.
- BYU had five players in double figures. Alex Barcello led the Cougars with 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting. Barcello has scored 20-plus points in three of the five game this season.
- Others in double figures for BYU included Gideon George (13), Brandon Averette (12), Connor Harding (11) and Trevin Knell (11).
- George recorded the first double-double of his BYU career with highs in points (13) and rebounds (15).
- As a team, BYU had 10 threes on 37% shooting from deep. Six of those three-pointers came in the second half as the Cougars made 6 of 11 attempts (54.5%)
- Both teams combined for just 52 points at the half (29-23). Each team scored 45 points in the second half.
- BYU has not lost consecutive games in the Mark Pope era.
- George and Knell combined for 24 points and 19 rebounds off the bench.
Next up for the Cougars
- The Cougars will face Utah State on Saturday, Dec. 5, at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan, Utah. The game will tipoff at 7:00 p.m. MST. The television network has not yet been determined.
- The Aggies are 1-2 to start the year with a win over Northern Iowa (82-71) and losses to VCU (85-69) and South Dakota State (83-59).
- BYU and Utah State have played 236 previous men’s basketball games with the Cougars holding a 144-92 (.610) record over the Aggies.
- BYU has won nine of the previous 10 meetings since 2010.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Mark Pope
On how he felt his team responded after a tough loss yesterday:
I’m unbelievably proud of our guys. After a really brutal night with a really, really short turn around, a lot of soul searching, and a lot of questioning and some doubt, the guys did the only thing you can, and they responded. I couldn’t be prouder of them. Couldn’t be prouder of Gideon—what an unbelievable effort he had. He’s just learning on the fly, he just doesn’t have a ton of experience, but he had such a huge impact on this game. I’m proud of the whole crew. Very few teams get beat like we did last night and then have a big-time game 24 hours later and come out and have the toughness to get it up, but these guys did, and I couldn’t be prouder of them.
Thoughts on Gideon’s impact off the bench today:
You think about Gideon’s contribution to this game, he has 15 rebounds and probably the two—ultimate and penultimate—most important rebounds of the game. He’s so capable of guarding so many different positions. Defensively, he had the toughest defensive assignment for the bulk of his minutes on the floor. He’s playing two positions for us right now, the three and the four, which is super unfair on my part, it’s just we need him to do that. He’s an unbelievable young man and he sure put on a show tonight.
Gideon George
On securing the final two rebounds to help seal the game for BYU:
Connor Harding was talking to me all throughout the play—and Alex Barcello—they were just telling me to get the rebound and play my game. I’ve been (outrebounding everybody) since junior college, so it’s not a new thing to me.