Denver • If there was one weakness to Kevin Young’s spread and shoot offense, it might’ve belonged to Egor Demin.
Young’s 6-foot-9 point guard will likely be an NBA lottery pick. He can attack off the dribble and dart a cross-court pass. But when it comes to kick-out threes, he was shooting just 27% and hitting one triple per game.
Why not change that for likely his only NCAA Tournament appearance?
With BYU seesawing with VCU on Thursday afternoon, Demin’s shooting was the difference. Off the dribble, on kick-outs and coming off screens, Demin buried three triples in the first half. His 11 points sparked a 12-2 run into the intermission, as BYU cruised to an 80-71 win.
With that, the Cougars made it out of the first round of the tournament for the first time in a decade.
Demin finished with 15 points on six of 11 shooting. Richie Saunders added 16.
BYU broke the game open after the break, going up 20 with 16 minutes to play. With VCU trying to take away BYU’s three-point attempts, the Cougars punished VCU inside. BYU finished with 39 points in the paint.
Two of BYU’s centers flirted with a double-double. Fouss Troare had 13 points and nine rebounds. Keba Keita chipped in with nine points and nine boards.
When VCU briefly cut the lead to 10, Keita came up with an offensive rebound and putback. BYU extended the lead back to 14 and stemmed the tide.
Young was concerned with VCU’s offensive rebounding and pressure offense coming into the night. He compared the Rams to Iowa State or Houston.
But unlike when BYU couldn’t handle the physicality with Houston, this time it controlled the glass.
BYU outrebounded VCU by 11 and beat it on the offensive boards 14-10.
It had 16 second chance points to VCU’s seven. It also finished with 12 turnovers.
BYU will play three-seed Wisconsin on Saturday with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.