USBWA District VIII Coach of the Year Mark Pope | Finished the Season Ranked No. 18/16 | Three All-WCC First Team Honorees Kyle Chilton, BYU Athletic Communications | O: 801-422-4909 | C: 801-372-2080 | [email protected] | 30 Smith Fieldhouse | Provo, UT | 84602 2019-20 SEASON REVIEW 2019-20 BYU SCHEDULE The Mark Pope era of BYU men’s basketball began with point lead in the game’s final minute. With 5.1 seconds N5 Tue Cal State Fullerton BYUtv W, 76-58 one of the best seasons in program history – highlighted to go, Harding inbounded the ball to Haws who took N9 Sat San Diego State BYUtv L, 71-76 by a top-25 ranking for the first time since 2011, 24 it down the right side of the court as the clock wound N13 Wed Southern Utah+ BYUtv W, 68-63 wins, a nine-game win streak and a likely single-digit bid down. He pulled up and shot a fadeaway jumper as the N15 Fri at Houston ESPNU W, 72-71 in the NCAA Tournament. The season was abruptly cut buzzer sounded. The ball hit the front of the rim, bounced N20 Wed at Boise State (OT) CBS SN L, 68-72 short before the tournament due to the rapidly evolving straight up and dropped through the net to give BYU the N25 Mon vs. UCLA+ ESPN2 W, 78-63 circumstances related to the spread of COVID-19. one-point win at 72-71. N26 Tue vs. No. 4/5 Kansas+ ESPN L, 56-71 N27 Wed vs. Virginia Tech+ ESPN2 W, 90-77 “It’s so humbling as a coach when you have players who After a tough loss at Boise State, the Cougars made their are willing to sacrifice for each other and give their trust way to Hawaii for the Maui Jim Maui Invitational. BYU N30 Sat Montana Tech BYUtv W, 98-63 to our staff and to fight every day,” Pope said. “It’s the opened the tournament with a decisive 78-63 win over D4 Wed at Utah (OT) Pac-12 L, 95-102 most inspiring thing to see these guys accomplish things UCLA in which Toolson scored 20 points and the Cougars D7 Sat UNLV# BYUtv W, 83-50 they weren’t sure they could do. To finish in the top 20, shot an impressive 62 percent from the field. In the D10 Tue Nevada ESPNU W, 74-42 No. 9 in the NET, with such epic wins, to get to witness second game BYU hung with Kansas – the No. 4 at the D14 Sat Utah State^ BYUtv W, 68-64 that together and experience it together is the best part time and No. 1 at the end of the season – for a half be- D21 Sat Weber State BYUtv W, 91-61 of sports. That is what this season means to me, that we fore falling 71-56. In the third-place game, the Cougars D28 Sat Oral Roberts BYUtv W, 79-73 got to share that together.” defeated Virginia Tech 90-77 and tied the school record J4 Sat Loyola Marymount* BYUtv W, 63-38 with 17 3-pointers. J9 Thu at Saint Mary’s* (OT) ESPN2 L, 84-87 Seven seniors led the way for the Cougars, who finished J11 Sat Portland* BYUtv W, 96-70 No. 18/16 in the final AP and USA Today Coaches Polls, Childs returned two games later at in-state rival Utah and J16 Thu San Diego* BYUtv W, 93-70 as Yoeli Childs (22.2 ppg, 9.0 rpg), TJ Haws (14.0 ppg, came out on fire, hitting 12 of 16 shots for 29 points. He J18 Sat at No. 1/1 Gonzaga* ESPN2 L, 69-92 5.8 apg) and Jake Toolson (15.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg) garnered missed the majority of the second half due to cramps and J23 Thu at Pacific* Stadium W, 74-60 All-West Coast Conference First Team honors. Childs Utah rallied to win 102-95 in overtime. But with a more J25 Sat at San Francisco* Stadium L, 82-83 was a top-5 finalist for the Karl Malone Power Forward complete roster, the Cougars strung together six-straight J30 Thu Pepperdine* CBS SN W, 107-80 of the Year Award, Haws earned a spot on the CoSIDA wins, including blowout victories against UNLV and F1 Sat Saint Mary’s* ESPN2 W, 81-79 Academic All-America Third Team and Toolson was the Nevada and a dramatic 68-64 win against Utah State F6 Thu at Portland* Stadium W, 85-54 WCC Newcomer of the Year. in the Beehive Classic. Against the Aggies, BYU led by F8 Sat San Francisco* BYUtv W, 90-76 one when Barcello drained a 3-pointer with 27 seconds Fellow seniors Dalton Nixon (7.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg) and Zac on the clock, helping the Cougars withstand a late Utah F13 Thu at Loyola Marymount* ESPNU W, 77-54 Seljaas (6.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg) provided hustle, scoring, lead- State push and win 68-64. F15 Sat at San Diego* CBS SN W, 72-71 ership and experience off the bench and made key plays F20 Thu Santa Clara* CBS SN W, 85-75 throughout the season. Evan Troy and Taylor Maughan Wins over Weber State and Oral Roberts closed out the F22 Sat No. 2/2 Gonzaga* ESPN2 W, 91-78 played key roles on the scout team all year. nonconference schedule. The Cougars opened league F29 Sat at Pepperdine* CBS SN W, 81-64 play with a dominant home win over Loyola Marymount, M9 Mon vs. Saint Mary’s@ ESPN2 L, 50-51 Junior Alex Barcello (9.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg) transferred to BYU 63-38. Before heading out to play at WCC rival Saint +Maui Jim Maui Invitational from Arizona in the summer and received a waiver to play Mary’s, Childs suffered an open dislocation in his right # at Vivint Smart Home Arena right away. He started all 32 games and provided excel- index finger, sidelining him for the next two weeks. During ^ Beehive Classic at Vivint Smart Home Arena lent shooting, stout defense and leadership throughout that time, BYU lost in overtime at Saint Mary’s before * WCC Game the season. Sophomores Connor Harding (6.1 ppg, 3.2 putting together back-to-back blowouts of Portland and @ WCC Tournament rpg) and Kolby Lee (7.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg) made significant San Diego at home. Before Childs returned, the Cougars All times local to site contributions and showed marked improvement from fell at No. 2 Gonzaga. their freshman seasons. Gavin Baxter sacrificed a redshirt 71 win. Following the San Diego win, BYU entered the season, returning from a shoulder injury to play in the In his first game coming off the finger injury, Childs AP Top-25 for the first time at No. 23. final seven games with hopes of helping his team make a teamed up with Toolson to lead BYU to a 74-60 win at run in the NCAA Tournament. Pacific. Childs had 26 points and nine boards while Tool- The Gonzaga game was senior night and was played in son hit six 3-pointers and scored a career-best 28 points. front of a soldout crowd of 18,987 in the Marriott Center. BYU was one of the top offensive teams in the country After a heartbreaking loss at San Francisco, the Cougars The Bulldogs jumped out to a 14-8 lead before the Cou- and had the numbers to prove it. The Cougars were top emerged a more determined team, winning nine-straight gars settled down and went on a 13-4 run to take their five in several categories, including 3-point field goal games – a program best win streak in league play since first lead of the game. Three-point shots by Toolson and percentage (1st), assist/turnover ratio (2nd), field goal joining the West Coast Conference. Haws in the final 2:30 helped BYU create some separa- percentage (3rd), 3-point field goals per game (4th) and tion and the Cougars led 46-38 at the half. assists per game (5th). Jake Toolson was second in the The streak began with a 107-80 home win against Pep- nation in 3-point field goal percentage and was one of perdine that saw the Cougars hit 17 of 28 from 3-point Five-straight points by Lee helped BYU open up a 58-44 five Cougars to shoot 44.0 percent or better from long range. Two nights later, BYU defeated Saint Mary’s in one lead with 17 minutes remaining but Gonzaga did not range for the season. of the most thrilling games of the season. After leading back down. Over the next 10 minutes, the Bulldogs 43-40 at the half, the Cougars fell behind by as many slowly chipped away at the lead and pulled within two Pope was hired as the head men’s basketball coach on as eight in the second half. Trailing by four with 1:30 at 70-68. Seljaas scored seven of BYU’s next nine points April 10, 2019, and got to work quickly, assembling to go, BYU hit 3 of 4 from the free-throw line and got and Barcello hit a 3 to help create separation at 82-74. his staff and finalizing the roster. In August, the Cougars a pair of stops. After a timeout with 16 seconds on the The Cougars remained in control over the final four min- embarked on a tour of Italy where they won four games clock, Haws came off a screen and hit a deep 3 from the utes and won 91-78, the program’s first win over a No.