LOS ANGELES, California – BYU basketball has produced a lot of teams that can shoot the basketball at a high clip. But no BYU squad is better at knocking down the three, than this year’s Cougar Cager team.

On Thursday, BYU (20-7, 9-3 WCC) knocked down 18 three-point field goals to set a new single-game school record en route to a 77-54 victory over Loyola Marymount (8-17, 2-9 WCC) in Los Angeles.

THAT'S A BYU RECORD 18 THREES!!#BYUhoops #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/Dc75NIcJ05

— BYU Basketball (@BYUbasketball) February 14, 2020

The 18th three and the 40th three-point attempt came courtesy of walk-on guard Evan Troy who knocked down the triple off an assist from another walk-on in Blaze Nield with 19 seconds left in regulation. The depth and the ability to own the shot won the night for BYU in a critical road win over the Lions.

First Half struggles in L.A.

With how the game started, no one could have predicted a record night. BYU opened the game shooting 1-8 from three, letting Mark Pope’s worst fears prop up.

Earlier in the week, Pope said he was worried about this Loyola Marymount team because of all the different looks they could throw at his team. Those concerns were valid as BYU wasn’t clicking on all cylinders in the first 20 minutes.

Mark Pope said earlier this week that this LMU team gave him headaches with all the different looks they run. Lions definitely controlling the pace so far and trying to make this game ugly.#BYU #BYUhoops @kslsports

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) February 14, 2020

Midway through the first half, BYU was down by two in large part because of cold-shooting. But BYU continued to own their shot as Pope and his staff would like to say as they continued to play to their strength. BYU made five field goals after being down two and four of those makes were from beyond the arc. Senior TJ Haws hit two of those sending BYU into the halftime locker room with a 32-24 lead despite the Lions shooting 55 percent from the field to BYU’s 37 percent.

LMU came out of the halftime break poised to make it a game with a quick 4-0 run, but BYU quickly countered that run with some buckets of their own. Specifically from guard Alex Barcello who buried a three to give BYU an 11-point lead before the first media timeout of the second half.

BYU’s high powered offense took over in the second half

The onslaught continued as Haws knocked down back-to-back threes to stretch BYU’s lead to 19 points. From there, BYU never looked back as another senior Zac Seljaas got in the act burying a pair of threes to build BYU’s lead to 22 points and the Lions never threatened from that point forward.

*Make that SIX https://t.co/k2tQQqi9xU

— BYU Basketball (@BYUbasketball) February 14, 2020

As a team, BYU was 18-39 from three-point range with six different players knocking down shots from deep. Six of those 18 makes were courtesy of Arizona transfer Alex Barcello who was a perfect 5-5 from deep as he scored a game-high 18 points.

Final: @BYUbasketball 77, @lmulionsMBB 54#BYU makes a school-record 18 three-pointers to earn their 20th win of the season.#BYUhoops #GoCougs

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) February 14, 2020

No team will ever turn away a 23-point win, especially when it comes in a night where the star player had a modest night. Yoeli Childs ended the game with only nine points on 3-11 shooting from the field. But Childs’ impact was still felt as he pulled down six rebounds and had one assist out of the post. LMU consistently showed a double-team (Monster) on the star forward opening things up for BYU’s historic three-point shooting performance.

How the 18 three’s were made

Here is how the three-pointers were made tonight in BYU’s win over Loyola Marymount.

• Alex Barcello: 6-8
• TJ Haws: 4-8
• Connor Harding: 3-3
• Zac Seljaas: 2-7
• Jake Toolson: 2-8
• Evan Troy: 1-1

Up Next

With the 20th win now in their back pocket, BYU will bus down to San Diego to take on the Toreros at Jenny Craig Pavilion on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. (MST) and will be televised on CBS Sports Network and heard via radio on KSL NewsRadio 102.7 FM & 1160 AM.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.