BYU Cougars || 21-10, 9-9; 9th || Big 12 Conference
WHAT'S AT STAKE?
BYU finished Big 12 play 9-9, the best record and conference winning percentage since 2022-23, when BYU was a member of the WCC. The Cougars have also won 20+ games for the 22nd time in program history, the first time since the 2021-22 campaign and just the third time in a head coach’s first season. With a win tomorrow, Lee Cummard would tie Courtney Leishman (1977-78) for the second-most wins by a first-year head coach in program history.
With a win, the Cougars would earn their first win in the Big 12 Tournament since entering the league in 2023. They would also earn a date with the No. 8-seed Utah Utes on Thursday, March 5, in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament.
ALL-BIG 12 BACKCOURT DUO
Delaney Gibb and Olivia Hamlin each received conference recognitions on Wednesday. Gibb was named to the All-Big 12 First Team, while Hamlin was named Honorable Mention All-Big and to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team.
The pair combined for 31 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block in the win over Houston yesterday. Gibb and Hamlin led BYU to the win at Utah on Feb. 21 with 48 combined points, seven made triples, eight rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks.
DON'T BURST OUR BUBBLE YET...
With three games left in the regular season and on a two-game skid, the Cougars’ NCAA Tournament at-large hopes were dwindling. Not so fast! BYU finished the season with three-straight wins against bubble teams to put them squarely in the mix for an at-large bid.
The Cougars case? BYU is tied for the most quad two wins in the country (8) and has played five of the 14 teams ranked immediately ahead of them in the latest ESPN bracketology. BYU has a 7-1 head-to-head record against Utah (2-0), Arizona St. (2-0), Iowa St. (1-0), Virginia Tech (1-0; w/out Delaney Gibb), and Colorado (1-1). The Cougars knocked off No. 19 Texas Tech for just their second loss of the season. BYU is on a current 4-game winning streak, with wins at Utah, at Arizona St., against Colorado and vs. Houston in the Big 12 Tournament.
CUMMARD VS THE UTES
Cummard is 2-0 as a coach against Utah, but the BYU legend was also 6-3 as a player against the Utes. The two-time AP All-America Honorable Mention averaged 18 points on 48.1 percent shooting from the floor and 50 percent from deep while recording 8.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.0 steals and a block in rivalry games during his junior and senior seasons.
TURNOVER TROUBLE STRIKES AGAIN
The Cougars’ Achilles heel this season has been the turnover monster. BYU averages 17.5 turnovers per game and has surrendered 14.7 points off giveaways to opponents. In BYU’s losses, the turnover number jumps to 19.1 and the points off giveaways jump to 20.3 per game, with five opponents scoring 22 or more. In wins, the Cougars still turn it over 16.7 times per game, but the points off turnovers surrendered drop to just 12 per game (-8.3).
The Cougars coughed it up 22 times in yesterday's win over Houston. The Cougars in red converted the 22 BYU giveaways into just 15 points off turnovers. During BYU's four-game winning streak, the Cougars have only posted a positive turnover margin in one game, with eight turnovers to Colorado's 11. In the three other games at Arizona State, at Utah and vs. Houston, BYU recorded 56 turnovers to opponents' 42 giveaways, yet the Cougs are on a four-game heater.
70...IT'S THE MAGIC NUMBER
When the Cougars eclipse 70 points on offense, the Cougars are 16-3 on the season with their only losses coming to No. 17 Vanderbilt (without Delaney Gibb), at Arizona and No. 22 West Virginia. Cummard’s squad also prides itself on its ability to defend. BYU has held 22 of 31 opponents under the 70-point threshold and is 20-2 in such games, with their only losses to No. 18 Baylor and at Oklahoma State. BYU’s only win when allowing 70+ points came at Utah (86-74). The Cougs have kept nine of their foes under 60 points this season, and are 23-2 over the past three seasons when doing so.
During their four-game winning streak, the Cougars have only allowed 70+ points in the game at Utah. BYU leaned on a 37-point outing from Delaney Gibb to lift BYU to an 86-74 victory.
IT'S DELANEY'S WORLD, AND WE'RE JUST LIVING IN IT
Delaney Gibb has scored 20 or more points in four of her last five games, leading to All-Big 12 First Team honors and a spot on the USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year Midseason Top-10 list. In her last five outings, Gibb is averaging 24.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.8 steals, 1.2 blocks and 3.0 made triples per game in 36.5 minutes of play. It also includes her 37-point outing at Utah in which she knocked down 5-of-8 attempts from deep in the 86-74 win over the Utes. The sophomore also contributed five assists, five rebounds, two steals, two blocks and scored 18 fourth-quarter points in the career day in Salt Lake City.
Her 37-point performance, along with four-straight 20+ point games, earned Gibb a Big 12 Starting Five nod in back-to-back weeks (Feb. 23 & March 2). She also became just the third Cougar to score 35+ points in a game in the last decade, joining WCC Players of the Year Shaylee Gonzales and Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee. She followed that up with 24 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals, along with a 13-for-14 clip from the charity stripe in the win over ASU. Then on senior day, Gibb poured in 26 points, 7 assists, 6 boards, a steal, a block and 19 fourth-quarter points in the comeback win over Colorado.
With her current five-game stretch, Gibb has moved into 7th on the all-time BYU scoring list at 17.57 points per game, passing 11-year WNBA veteran Erin Thorn (16.23). She also moved into 2nd for 3-PT field goals per game (2.40), 5th for career assists per game (4.26), 7th in minutes per game (33:03), 14th for 3-PT FG% (.357) and 15th 3-PT field goals made (127). Gibb is two three-pointers away from passing current graduate assistant Kaylee Smiler for 14th on the all-time 3-point makes list.
YOUNG GUNS, BIG BUCKETS
BYU’s freshmen have made huge contributions to the Cougars’ offensive success. Olivia Hamlin, Sydney Benally, Bolanle Yussuf and Braeden Gunlock have combined for 38.7 percent of all points scored by BYU this season. With sophomores Delaney Gibb, Brinley Cannon and Kambree Barber added to the mix, the underclassmen account for 71.9 percent of all BYU scoring. Since Dec. 20, underclassmen have combined for 53.2 of BYU’s 67.8 points per game (78.5%).
During BYU’s 4-game winning streak, the underclassmen scored 257 of the 303 Cougar points. (84.8%). Yesterday against Houston, Hamlin, Benally, Yussuf, Gibb, Barber, and Cannon combined for 61 of BYU’s 76 points in the win.
GERMAN ENGINEERED EXCELLENCE
Lara Rohkohl averages 9.9 points on 71.8 percent shooting, 7.0 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and 1.1 steals per contest in BYU wins. Rohkohl shoots 64.3 percent from the floor, which is tied for the third-highest single-season percentage in BYU history (p. 35) and ranks in the 98th percentile nationally for the 2025-26 season. In yesterday’s win, Rohkohl went for 15 points on 6-of-8 from the floor, a team-high eight rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal. BYU is 12-0 when she scores 10+ points and 14-3 when she leads BYU in blocks.
NOT SO SLOW OUT OF THE BLOCKS LATELY
BYU has been plagued by slow starts since the beginning of Big 12 play. The Cougars trailed after the first quarter in 11-of-18 Big 12 games. When trailing after the first in Big 12 games, BYU was 4-7. When leading after the opening frame, the Cougs are 6-2 since Dec. 20, 2025.
The Cougars also trailed at the half in 10 Big 12 games with a 3-7 record. However, BYU overcame three halftime deficits in Big 12 play in both games against Arizona State and against Utah at home. The Cougars climbed out of a six-point hole against Arizona State on Jan. 3, outscoring ASU 17-8 in the third quarter, followed by 26-20 in the fourth to hand the Sun Devils their first loss of the season.
BYU then erased a 10-point halftime lead against Utah, shooting 55.6 percent after halftime to outscore the Utes 52-30 and win 77-65. Last week, BYU trailed at ASU by one after the first and by 13 at halftime before flipping the script in the second half. The Cougars bested the Sun Devils 28-11 in the third quarter to take a six-point lead into the fourth. BYU then held on for a 66-61 win with a 20-19 fourth quarter.
Against Houston, the blue and red Cougars were knotted at 29 apiece at halftime before BYU bested UH 47-37 after halftime for its first win of the season when entering the locker room in a deadlock.
LIV'N IN FAST FORWARD
Hamlin is one of the top players in the country at playing in transition. The freshman scores 4.5 points per game, and 36 percent of her points come from transition buckets, which both rank in the 99th percentile nationally. The freshman has scored 11 or more points and made at least one 3-point field goal in each of her last seven games, including a career-high 23 points in the win over Iowa State. Hamlin went 9-for-18 from the field and knocked down three offerings from beyond the arc to go along with three rebounds and a steal in the 14-point win.
The Santa Clara, Utah, product leads all Big 12 freshmen in total steals with 55 and steals per game with 1.77. Her 55 steals and her 1.77 steals per game are each the 6th-highest mark in BYU freshman history, sitting just behind 13-year WNBA veteran Erin Thorn, two-time conference Player of the Year Shaylee Gonzales and current Oklahoma State guard Amari Whiting.
Olivia Hamlin was named All-Big 12 Honorable Mention, a member of the Big 12 All-Freshman Team and a two-time Big 12 Freshman of the Week (Dec. 15 & Feb. 25). Hamlin put her imprint on the BYU freshman record book as she sits 6th in steals (55) and stl/gm, (1.77), 7th in total points (394), made FG (150), made 3FG (45) and 3-PT FG/gm (1.45), 8th in minutes played (880:23) ninth in PTS/gm (12.71) and 10th in minutes per game (28:23).
PERPETUAL PERIMETER PRECISION
BYU holds the second-longest active and the third-longest all-time streak of games with a made 3-point field goal in NCAA women’s basketball. With a make against Utah, BYU will have made at least one triple in 826-straight games. The streak began on March 2, 2000, in an 86-69 win over Air Force. Chattanooga holds the longest active streak of 835 consecutive games with a triple.
NAVAJO DIME DROPPER
Sydney Benally is one of the top freshmen in the country at setting up her teammates for scoring opportunities, as she assists on 26.8 percent of all made baskets while on the floor, which ranks in the 93rd percentile nationally. Benally is second in the Big 12 and sixth nationally among freshmen with 131 assists. Her 4.23 dimes per game also ranks second in the conference and eighth nationally. BYU is 18-6 when Benally records at least three assists, and is 13-1 when the freshman drops at least five dimes.
Benally is also a mainstay in the BYU freshman record book as she sits second in total assists (131), just three away from passing Shaylee Gonzales for the top- all-time mark. She is also second in assists per game (4.23), third in games started (32), fifth in 3-point attempts (168) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.41:1), seventh in minutes played (912:33), eighth in made 3-pointers (42), 3-point field goals per game (1.36) and minutes per game (29:26) and 11th in steals (45) and steals per game (1.45).
At Arizona State, the Navajo hero had more than 500 people waiting outside the arena to welcome her to Desert Financial Arena. Despite a rough shooting night, the freshman scored three points, all from the line, dropped four dimes and recorded four timely steals in the win. She then spent nearly 45 minutes taking pictures and signing autographs for every native youth waiting by the bus, again, a crowd of hundreds of fans.
