3 takeaways from BYU’s 86-80 win over UC Riverside

Kevin Young’s Cougars are 2-0.

Strong performances from Egor Demin, Fouss Traore and Keba Keita helped BYU outlast UC Riverside Friday night in a 86-80 outing that turned out to be much closer than originally expected.

3 takeaways

• Egor Demin should keep BYU competitive all season long no matter the circumstances. The freshman phenom from Russia followed his electric debut with a 20 point, seven-assist night Friday to continue garnering nationwide buzz as one of the sport’s newest breakout stars. As evidenced against the Highlanders, Demin can impact the game in a multitude of ways and will thus be difficult to silence altogether.

• Shooting woes plagued the Cougars, who made just six 3-pointers after draining 15 such shots in Tuesday’s season opener against Central Arkansas. Additionally, BYU missed 12 total free throws to help make the final score appear a bit less attractive.

• While the outside shots weren’t falling, the Cougars’ inside game proved strong, as they scored 48 points in the paint and grabbed 11 offensive rebounds. Keita notched his first double-double at BYU with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Traore added another 13 points and six boards off the bench.