BYU basketball routed by Providence in first true road test

PROVO — In BYU's first true road test of the 2024-25 season, the Cougars' defense didn't travel.

Neither did much of BYU's offense, either.

Jabri Abdur-Rahim poured in 21 points including four 3-pointers with five rebounds, and Bryce Hopkins scored 16 points with five rebounds and four assists in his season debut as the Friars overwhelmed the visiting Cougars 83-64 Tuesday night in the Big 12-Big East Battle at Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, Rhode Island.

Bensley Joseph and Jayden Pierre each had 12 points for Providence (6-3), which shot 60% from the field, 12-of-22 from 3-point range and 21-of-26 from the free-throw line.

Dawson Baker poured in 16 points with four rebounds off the bench to lead BYU, which lost its second game in six days.

Keba Keita added 9 points and 10 rebounds for the Cougars (6-2), and Trevin Knell scored 9 points on 3-of-4 shooting for a BYU squad that shot just 33.3% from the field and 7-of-25 from the perimeter.

"Disappointed, obviously, with the outcome," said BYU coach Kevin Young, whose team took 27 more shots and made two fewer in the 19-point loss. "The stats were some things I've never really seen before — just a really inefficient night for us on the offense end. And then we couldn't guard a lot of guys."

BYU's starting five of Dallin Hall, Egor Demin, Richie Saunders, Keba Keita and Kanon Catchings shot 9-of-41 from the field — including a combined 2-of-24 from Hall, Demin and Catchings.

The Friars drained 11 of their first 13 shots, including five 3-pointers, to lead BYU 31-21 midway through the first half.

Knell canned a triple and Demin, who missed his first 10 shots from the field and five 3-point attempts, scored 4 from the free-throw line during a 9-0 run that pulled the Cougars as close as 34-30 with 2:52 left in the half.

But Providence connected on back-to-back-to-back triples, and Abdur-Rahim scored 11 points to lift the hot-shooting Friars to a 46-34 halftime lead on 71.4% shooting.

Traore led BYU with 8 points on 4-of-7 shooting in the first half, followed by Demin, whose 6 points all came on free throws for a BYU side that shot just 12-of-37 (32.4%) from the field in the first half.

That was "the turning point" of the game, noted Young, the first-year head coach.

"For whatever reason, I thought our guys really rushed around the basket," Young told BYU Radio. "I didn't see that one coming. A lot of where we've been sped up has been on the perimeter. Tonight, we got sped up on the interior.

"It was one of those nights where you had to rely on your defense, and we didn't do that very well."

BYU used a 10-2 run to start the second half to pull as close as 53-46 on Knell's triple with 13:18 to play. But the 3-point shot was the Friars' best friend, including two by Abdur-Rahim that stretched Providence's lead back to 64-49 with 9:31 remaining.

The Cougars faced lengthy scoring droughts, including one over four minutes midway through the second half that was part of an 18-5 scoring run for the Friars en route to leading by as much as 25.

BYU is back home following a three-game road trip next Wednesday, Dec. 11, to host Fresno State (7 p.m. MST, ESPN+).

"We'll definitely watch film as a staff and we'll watch it individually with the guys," Young said. "We've got to get the guys in and help them learn from this, but I've got a staff that can work really hard at that. We've got plenty of stuff to get better at."

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