Scouting Brigham Young
NC State plays Brigham Young at 10 p.m. tonight in the Las Vegas Showdown.
NC State topped Vanderbilt 84-78 on Thursday, and BYU destroyed Arizona State 77-49.
The Cougars are 5-0 and have a 74-65 win over San Diego State on Nov. 10 on the resume.
BYU has a strong basketball tradition, with three trips to the Elite Eight and seven to the Sweet 16. The program has gone from the Mountain West to the West Coast Conference and now the Big 12.
Overview
BYU has a deep crew, with a nucleus of nine players, but it could be down to eight if backup center Atiki Ally Atiki is suspended tonight for getting into a scuffle against Arizona State.
Senior reserve Jaxson Robinson, who played at both Texas A&M and Arkansas, leads the team in scoring with 13.8 points per game.
Senior guards Spencer Johnson and sophomore guard Dallin Hall have combined for 19.8 points and 9.4 assists per game.
Junior power forward Fousseyni Traori and Detroit Mercy senior transfer Noah Waterman bring different skills to the frontcourt.
Rankings
BYU was No. 84 in the NET rankings, and NC State was No. 43 last year.
ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) has the Cougars ranked No. 27 overall, and the Wolfpack are No. 52.
KenPom.com has BYU at No. 12, and NCSU checks in at No. 54 this season.
RealtimeRPI.com has BYU was ranked No. 79 in the country, and NC State is No. 111.
Shooting
BYU is averaging an impressive 91.0 points per game, and are shooting 47.5 percent from the field, 38.1 percent on three-pointers and 81.2 percent from the free-throw line.
Waterman might be 6-10 or 6-11, but he’s a force from beyond the arc at 48.0 percent. Knell is right behind at 46.7 percent on three-pointers, with Hall is third on the team at 38.9 percent.
Johnson shot 46.1 percent on three-pointers last year, but is down to 28.6 percent in five games.
Rebounding
BYU is averaging 49.0 rebounds per game and are plus-19.4 for rebounding margin.
Waterman is averaging 7.0 rebounds per game and Traore is right behind at 6.6. Guards Johnson and sophomore wing Richie Saunders combine for 10.4 boards a contest.
Defense
The Cougars are allowing 55.0 points per game, with opponents shooting 37.1 percent from the field, 17.4 percent from three-point land and 55.3 percent on free throws.
Kenell, Traore and Saunders have five steals apiece and Traore has a team-high three blocks.
Depth
The aforementioned Robinson is averaging 13.8 points and 3.4 rebounds a contest, and shooting 44.8 percent from the field and 36.4 percent on three-pointers.
Saunders is also averaging double-digits off the bench. He’s averaging 10.2 points and 5.0 rebounds in 21.6 minutes a contest.
Junior guard Trey Stewart chips in 5.4 points in 16.4 minutes per game. Freshman post player Townsend
Tripple is next man up if Atiki is suspended. BYU could also go small with Traore at center.
Star Watch
The 6-6, 240-pound Fousseyni Traore is from Bamako, Mali, but he attended Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant, Utah.
Traore instantly became a starter his freshman year and averaged 9.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 23.7 minutes per game in 2021-22. Traore started every game last year and checked in with 12.9 points and 7.8 rebounds a contest, and he shot 60.7 percent from the field and 75.8 percent at the free-throw line.
Traore had six points, nine rebounds and five assists in the win over Arizona State. He had a season-high 18 points in the 105-48 win over Southeast Louisiana on Nov. 15, and even hit a pair of three-pointers.
Traore had 21 points last year against Lindenwood on Dec. 20, 2022, and he had 21 points and 12 boards in a 75-70 loss vs. Butler on Nov. 24, 2022, in the Battle 4 Atlantis.
Likely Starters
NC State
PG — 0 DJ Horne (6-1, 175, R-Sr., 12.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.5 sig)
SG — 1 Jayden Taylor (6-4, 195, Jr., 14.3 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.5 spg
G — 14 Casey Morsell (6-3, 200, R-Sr., 11.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.8 apg)
PF — 23 Mohamed Diarra (6-10, 215, Jr., 6.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 0.3 apg, 1.0 bpg)
C — 30 D.J. Burns (6-9, 275, R-Sr., 14.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.3 spg)
BYU
PG — 20 Spencer Johnson (6-5, 195, Sr., 10.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 5.2 apg)
SG — 30 Dallin Hall (6-4, 196, Soph., 9.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 4.2 apg)
SG — 21 Trevin Knell (6-5, 186, Jr., 12.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.4 apg, 1.0 sig)
PF — 45 Fousseyni Traore (6-6, 240, Jr., 11.8 jpg, 6.6 rpg, 2.4 apg, 1.0 sig)
C — 0 Noah Waterman (6-11, 220, Sr., 12.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 1.2 apg)
Numbers Of Note
2 BYU players who were national player of the year — Danny Ainge in 1981 and Jimmer Fredette in 2011.
7 Former NBA first-round picks out of BYU. Mel Hutchins (1951), Craig Raymond (1967), Greg Kite (1983), Michael Smith (1989), Shawn Bradley (1993), Rafael Araujo (2004) and Jimmer Fredette (2011) all went in the first round.
30 Trips to the NCAA Tournament, but just one (2021) since 2015.
Game Within The Game: BYU's Noah Waterman vs. NC State's D.J. Burns
Senior center Noah Waterman was the star of stars for BYU in Thursday’s win over Arizona State.
The 6-11, 220-pound Waterman bombed away to go 6 of 9 on three-pointers for 24 points, plus seven rebounds in a 77-49 win over Arizona State.
That performance helped boost Waterman’s numbers to 12.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, and he’s shooting 46.2 percent from the field and 48.0 percent on three-pointers.
Waterman played his first year at Niagara, and then two years at Detroit Mercy, where he played a supporting role in the “Antoine Davis Show.” Waterman shot a blistering 52.8 percent on three-pointers in helping Detroit Mercy finish the season strong in 2020-21. He averaged 11.9 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in 15 games played his redshirt freshman year with Titans.
Waterman missed the first half of the 2020-21 season, but Detroit went 10-5 in games he played in, including winning eight out of nine games at one point.
Waterman transferred to BYU last year, and he started 14 of 33 games for the Cougars. He averaged 4.6 points and 2.8 rebounds in 17.0 minutes per game.
NC State center D.J. Burns or possibly power forward Mohamed Diarra could be guarding Waterman. Burns might have 100 pounds on Waterman and isn’t as comfortable guarding out to the three-point line, so he could be on Fousseyni Traore. He is averaging 14.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.
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