BYU Cougars || 7-0, 0-0 || Big 12 Conference
WHAT'S AT STAKE? || With a win, the Cougars would move to 8-0 and match the second-best start in program history. Currently at 7-0, only three teams in program history have opened the season with a better record: 2013-14 (9-0), 2005-06 (8-0) and 2021-22 (8-0).
WILL HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF? || The last time the Cougars faced the 17th-ranked team in the AP Poll was on Nov. 29, 2021, when Lee Cummard served as acting head coach during head coach Jeff Judkins' absence. On that day, now-assistant coach Paisley Johnson-Harding went for seven points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block in a 61-54 win over No. 17 Florida State on Thanksgiving weekend. Now-head coach Cummard and assistant coach Johnson-Harding look to hand the Commodores their first loss of the season.
NAVAJO DIME DROPPER || Sydney Benally is one of the best guards in the country at setting up her teammates in positions to score. The true freshman ranks 10th in the country in total assists and second among freshmen with 46 dimes in seven games. Benally also ranks 10th among freshmen in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.0.
The Albuquerque, New Mexico native also averages 8.4 points, 2.4 steals and 2.7 rebounds. In BYU’s win over Virginia Tech, the freshman erupted for a career-high 18 points to go along with seven assists, her third game with seven or more assists this season.
GERMAN ENGINEERED EXCELLENCE || Lara Rohkohl has been an efficient scorer, a staple on defense and a key for BYU in its 7-0 start. The Hanover, Germany native has made an immediate impact, scoring 11.3 points and anchoring the Cougar defense with 7.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per contest.
Rohkohl ranks second in the country and the Big 12, behind Iowa State’s Audi Crooks, shooting 74 percent from the field. She is sixth in the conference in rebounds and blocks per game with 7.9 and 1.9, respectively. Rohkohl scored 12 points with two rebounds, a steal and a block in the win on Thanksgiving Day.
PLAYING FOR EACH OTHER || Coach Cummard has been emphatic that his team will share the love, make the extra pass and make the right play. Cummard’s squad has assisted on 124 assists of 192 made field goals for a 64.6 percent assist rate. The Cougars currently rank 26th nationally with 124 assists per game, an average of 17.7 per game.
Four Cougars are averaging multiple assists per game, with Sydney Benally leading the way with 6.6. Delaney Gibb, Olivia Hamlin and Ari Mackey-Williams make up the backcourt quartet with 6.0, 2.0 and 1.8 dimes per contest. Benally has recorded five or more assists in 6-of-7 games this season.
DEFENSIVE DOGS || BYU ranks 19th nationally and third in the Big 12 with 5.7 blocks per game. Rohkohl ranks 31st in blocks with 13, while Cannon and Yussuf have contributed seven and six blocks, respectively.
The Cougars sit 30th in the country and third in the Big 12 for steals with 12.4 per contest. BYU has seven players who average over a steal per game: Benally (2.4), Hamlin (1.9), Cannon (2.0), Gibb (2.0), Rohkohl (1.9), Hudgins (1.7), and Yussuf (1.1). The BYU defense also ranks 25th in the country in opponent field goal percentage, giving up only 33.1 percent shooting, good for fifth in the conference.
The Cougars were the first team to record 60 steals and 30 blocks through the first four games of a season since South Carolina in 2018-19, and the first Big 12 team since Texas in 2010-11.
CLIMBING THE BIG 12 MOUNTAIN || Although the Cougars are focusing on inputs rather than outcomes this season, Cummard and his team have set some lofty goals for the 2025-26 campaign. At Big 12 Media Day, Coach Cummard said, “We haven’t done anything in the league in the first two years. We’ve been in a lot of close games, we’ve upset a few ranked opponents, but we’ve never won a game in the conference tournament. We’ve never finished in the top half of the league. So there are two [goals] right there that we want to strive for daily. We want to be playing late into the conference tournament and go to the NCAA Tournament as a member of the Big 12 Conference.”
Head Coach – Lee Cummard
- Alma Mater: BYU, 2009
- Division I Career Record: 7-0 || 1st Season
- Record at BYU: 7-0 || 1st Season
