Three Observations From A Big BYU Win At Pacific

PROVO, Utah – The BYU Cougars dominated the Pacific Tigers in their second meeting of the season 80-52.

Caleb Lohner had a career night leading the Cougars in scoring with 19 points. He poured in five three point buckets, a career high in that category.

BYU jumped on Pacific early thanks to improved three point shooting. As a team, the Cougars made 13 long distance shots, while shooting 48 percent from deep.

#BYU rolls through Pacific on Caleb Lohner's career night.#BYUHoops #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/dSJ93sGYlv

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) February 19, 2021

BYU has won it’s last two WCC road games by a combined 73 points.

The Cougars have one more road game left before finishing up at home against San Francisco and Saint Mary’s to wrap up conference play.

Here are my three observations from a night where the three ball was falling.

1. Caleb Lohner alley-oop

Lohner was fantastic on both ends of the floor for coach Mark Pope. He had a breakout game shooting the basketball.

At the beginning of the season Lohner struggled to make three point shots. Now, he’s made a three point bucket in four of the last five games.

With all that being said, the highlight of the game for Lohner was his alley-oop dunk near the end of the first half.

🅲🅰🅻🅴🅱 🅻🅾🅷🅽🅴🆁 💥@CBSSportsNet | @BYUbasketball #WCChoops pic.twitter.com/LPSI5m7k0P

— WCC Basketball (@WCChoops) February 19, 2021

There are been a few highlight dunk opportunities for Lohner this season that haven’t went down, so it was nice to see him throw this one down with authority.

It’s worth noting the nice pass from Brandon Averette on the dunk.

2. The bench mob

As Lohner and Trevin Knell shot the lights out from the three point line, it was fun to watch the guys on the bench celebrate.

You can tell that this is tight group that enjoys playing together.

The “best locker room in amercia” montra has taken root for a second consecutive season for Pope.

Even when the game was out of reach, guys were on their feet celebrating when Kolby Lee banked in a three pointer.

Chemistry is an important characterstic of a good team, and the Cougars are all set in that department.

3. Second half surge

The Cougars have squandered a few second half leads this season.

In their last road loss against Pepperdine, BYU led by 11 in the second half before losing 76-73.

That wasn’t going to happen against Pacific.

The Tigers cut the lead to nine at one point, but Alex Barcello and Brandon Averette made a pair of three point shots that ended the threat.

"Wooooooooooooooooooooooo" pic.twitter.com/7wVj3JNPeS

— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) February 19, 2021

With March Madness right around the corner, the Cougars are playing good basketball at the right time.

You can hear Matt Baiamonte every Saturday on KSL Newsradio for Cougar Sports Saturday from 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. or you can find him on Twitter here.