Late skirmish and subsequent ejections of two Cougars mars BYU’s rout of Arizona State

BYU passed its second major test of its 2023-24 nonconference basketball schedule late Thursday night, walloping future Big 12 foe Arizona State 77-49 in the Vegas Showdown in Las Vegas.

However, the outstanding performance at Michelob Ultra Arena was marred by a fight that broke out with 34 seconds remaining in the game. BYU’s Atiki Aly Atiki and ASU’s Akil Watson got tangled up after Atiki turned the ball over under BYU’s basket.

Atiki appeared to throw a punch, and was ejected from the contest. Watson was kept from retaliating by BYU coach Mark Pope, who ran onto the court and got between the combatants. Watson was not ejected.

Atiki, who had two points and nine rebounds off the bench in 15 minutes, almost certainly will be suspended Friday against North Carolina State in the tournament’s championship game, per NCAA rules, for apparently striking Watson with an open hand.

Having scored a career-high 24 points, BYU’s Noah Waterman was also ejected because he left the bench during the skirmish. However, Waterman should not have to sit out of Friday’s game because he didn’t participate in the fight, according to Greg Wrubell of the BYU Sports Radio Network, citing the NCAA rule book.

“We will find out more probably early tomorrow morning when the coordinators on the East Coast kinda give their input,” Pope said of possible repercussions on the BYU Sports Radio Network. “Noah Waterman had no intention of running out there and fighting. He had the intention to help his teammate. Now it doesn’t matter. It still warrants an ejection, and that is on me and my staff. Our job is to keep guys on the bench.”

BYU will meet North Carolina State (4-0) at approximately 8:30 p.m. MST in the tournament’s championship game Friday. The Wolfpack defeated Vanderbilt 84-78 in the first semifinal.

“I am hopeful that we find some space here to move on to the next game. And we will see how that goes. I understand the instinct of all our guys to want to have their guy’s back,” Pope said. “Universally we love Atiki so much like we love every guy on this team. And so when there is a little scuffle everyone’s instinct is to go help. We have to be really great at fighting that instinct because the consequences are pretty dire. Hopefully we will have a full team intact tomorrow. That’s what we are hoping for.”

Thursday, in a game that tipped off at 10:34 p.m. MST, the Cougars (5-0) unleashed another big shooting night from 3-point range to control the contest from start to finish. BYU finished 14 of 33 from deep and has made double-digit 3-pointers in all five of its games this season.

Playing without 7-footer Shawn Phillips, a transfer from LSU who sustained a foot injury in last week’s 71-69 victory over UMass Lowell, Arizona State (2-2) could never get going offensively and finished shooting 33% from the floor and 10% (2 of 20) from 3-point range. The Sun Devils are picked to finish sixth in the Pac-12.

Leading 32-17 after a sloppy, brick-filled first half, the Cougars hit two quick 3-pointers to extend their advantage to 19 and when Trevin Knell hit a 3 with 16:50 left in the second half, BYU had a 41-22 lead and the Sun Devils were pretty much finished.

Jaxson Robinson and Knell, BYU’s leading and third-leading scorers, did not score in the first half as Waterman led the Cougs with 13 in the first 20 minutes. But Knell finished with nine and Robinson eight as the duo heated up in the second half.

“We finally just kept to what we know and all the hard work (paid off),” Knell said. “We finally blew it open. “We knew it was going to be a battle. Those (ASU) guys are some dudes. We had to hang our hat on the defensive end and with rebounds.”

Richie Saunders added nine off the bench and nine Cougars scored in the laugher.

The game turned physical late in the first half when Fousseyni Traore, BYU’s second-leading scorer, took an elbow to the face from Jose Perez that drew blood, but Traore was called for the foul and left the game with 1:26 remaining in the first half.

He played in the second half with a bandage over his right eye and finished with six points and nine rebounds in 25 minutes.

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Later in the first half, Atiki and Perez collided and Perez went to the floor for a bit, but no foul was called, drawing the ire of ASU coach Bobby Hurley.

Knell said the Cougars were in a “weird space” in the locker room after the game not knowing exactly who will be available to play Friday.

ASU hit its first three shots to get out to an early 7-3 lead, but BYU answered with seven straight points to get the advantage at the first media timeout. The Cougars kept scoring, the Sun Devils didn’t.

Neither team shot well in the first half, but the Cougars won the rebounding battle 32-16 in the first 20 minutes and took a 32-17 lead into the break.

BYU missed 10 straight shots in the middle of the first half, but surged ahead with a five-point possession and when Waterman hit his third 3-pointer of the first half, the Cougars had a 15-point advantage.

In the first half, when the game was basically won, the Cougars were 6 of 19 (31.6%) from deep, but just 5 of 16 from inside the arc.

Arizona State was even colder, shooting 29% from the field and 9% (1 of 11) from 3-point range during the first 20 minutes.

“It feels great,” Knell said of the fifth win, and second over a Power Five foe, having downed No. 17 San Diego State in Game 2. “Happy Thanksgiving to the Cougar Nation.”

BYU played without Charlotte transfer Aly Khalifa and UC Irvine transfer Dawson Baker, who are coming off injuries. Freshman Marcus Adams Jr. also watched from the bench because his request for an eligibility waiver has not been ruled upon by the NCAA.

Sophomore Dallin Hall got his first start of the season, replacing Trey Stewart in the starting lineup, and had six points, four rebounds and four assists in 27 minutes.

The Cougars turned 18 offensive rebounds into 20 second-chance points.

“We think it is one of our superpowers,” Pope said of BYU’s offensive rebounding.