The following notes are from BYU's win over Washington State University on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, at the Marriott Center.
ALL-TIME SERIES RESULTS: WSU leads all-time series, 6-5.
TEAM NOTES
First Half
Fousseyni Traore started off the game with a layup for BYU. After drawing a foul in the following play, Traore went two of two from the charity stripe, putting BYU up 4-0 in the first two minutes of the game. After a two-minute scoring drought, Caleb Lohner dropped a three-pointer to put BYU up 7-4 on Washington State. With a layup, WSU tied the game at 12-12, but a jumper inside the key by senior Alex Barcello put BYU back in the lead 14-12. After a three-minute scoring drought for Washington State, BYU held the lead 18-14. After a 7-0 run over BYU, WSU took the lead 19-18 for the first time with eight minutes left in the first half. Two free throws by Spencer Johnson put BYU back in the lead 22-19 with six minutes remaining. WSU went on a 10-0 run over BYU, putting them ahead 29-22. WSU went into the locker room ahead of BYU 35-26. BYU finished the first half shooting 36 percent from the field, 10 percent from the three-point line and 71 percent from the free-throw line. WSU finished shooting 38 percent from the field, 27 percent from the three and 67 percent from the charity stripe.
Second Half
Washington State hit a three-pointer to start the second half, keeping them ahead 38-26. A three-point jumper from Atiki Ally Atiki and a two-point jumper from Te’jon Lucas closed the gap to 42-37, WSU leading by five. After a 7-0 run, WSU took a 10-point lead at 49-39 with eleven minutes remaining in the game. After a two-minute scoring drought for BYU, Lucas made a two-point jumper to make the score 62-46. WSU extended its lead to a 22-point game at 70-48 with four minutes left in regulation. Unable to capitalize on a few offensive plays, BYU lost to WSU with a final score of 77-58. BYU finished the game shooting 41 percent from the field, 15 percent from the three and 60 percent from the free-throw line. Washington State finished the night shooting 44 percent from the field, 33 percent from the three-point line and 67 percent from the free-throw line.
Rebounding
- BYU outrebounded WSU 40-39, with Caleb Loher pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds.
PLAYER NOTES
Fousseyni Traore
- Traore scored a team-high 16 points, marking the 16th time this season he scored in double figures.
- He also had eight rebounds, the Bamako, Mali. native passed Yoeli Childs for BYU's all-time leader in rebounds by a freshman.
Alex Barcello
- Barcello was 1-of-5 from 3-point range, giving him a 3-pointer in 18 consecutive games which is the seventh longest streak in program history.
- He finished the season with 88 3-pointers, tied with Jonathan Tavernari for on the single season 3-point list.
Caleb Lohner
- Lohner had 11 rebounds, marking the fourth time in his career he has pulled down double digit rebounds in a postseason game.
- The sophomore forward also dished a season-high five assists.
COACH QUOTES
Mark Pope
On the game
“Certainly a disappointing way to end the season, but congratulations to Washington State. Kyle is doing a great job there. In terms of my team and this season, I am really proud of these guys. They had unbelievable fight and heart and they kept coming back through adversity. We won a lot of games and I’m really proud of what we did. I am incredibly grateful for Te’Jon Lucas and Alex Barcello for what they have done for this university and this basketball program and we will miss those guys, they are really special guys.”
On optimism looking forward
“I am really optimistic, I think our future is incredibly bright. Looking back, these guys have done an unbelievable job winning a lot of games and more importantly laying a foundation of what our program is supposed to be. We have a lot of work to do and we need to get a lot better, but I am incredibly optimistic. I am proud of what we have done in the last three years and excited to see what we will do in the next three.”
On defensive problems tonight
“It was not our night guarding the perimeter in the second half. We had a really difficult time on the glass, rebounding the ball was really difficult. In some ways we just didn’t look like ourselves tonight, and that happens. Even our go-to, most reliable defenders struggled tonight at times. Credit to Washington State and we just didn’t perform up to the standard we have here in terms of guarding. It wasn’t our best game for sure.”
On Fousseyni Traore
“He was put in a really unfair position because it was not fair of us to expect him to play Top 25 basketball against great teams every single night as a freshman. It wasn’t what we expected or what we planned on, but the way he responded was really special. He’s grown so much and there are so many different slices of his game he needs to learn as a big and he has done an incredible job growing from his first day to his last.”
On focus on outside shooting
“What happened with us tonight was we just did not earn great shots for our teammates. We weren’t forceful enough to fight for shots for each other tonight. We are actually a really good shooting team when we earn great shots for each other. We’ll get better.”
On challenges this season
“I think our injuries and the difficulty of our schedule were our challenges this season. Every team has things they struggle with every season and those are two of the challenges we faced all season long. I think these boys did a really great job because it’s not easy to win 24 games. You have to fight and scratch and claw to do that and that’s what these kids have done this year. I couldn’t be more proud of how these boys responded.”