PROVO, Utah — With only three players scoring in double figures and a season low 54 points, BYU fought its way to a 54-39 win over the South Florida in the first round of the Diamond Head Classic Wednesday night.

“I’m super proud of our guys,” said BYU head coach Mark Pope. “This is a great defensive team that is really long, athletic and extremely disciplined. I was proud of how our guys managed the frustration South Florida caused on the defensive end, they kept moving the ball, kept fighting and got a good win.”

The Cougars were led by Fousseyni Traore, Gideon George and Alex Barcello who combined for 32 of BYU’s 54 points. BYU struggled from the floor shooting 36 percent from the field, 27.3 percent from behind the arc, and 12-of-16 from the charity stripe in the defensive slugfest.

USF shot 25.8 percent from the floor, 9.5 percent from three-point land, and 71.4 percent from the free-throw line. The Cougars held the Bulls to 39 points in the loss, their lowest scoring outing of the season.

George and Traore each had 11 points to lead BYU with Traore adding 9 rebounds and two assists to his stat line. Barcello tallied 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting, an assist and a steal in his 15^th straight game scoring in double figures dating back to last season. Caleb Lohner had a career-high 14 rebounds and nine points. 

The Cougars will play in the semi-final of the Diamond Head Classic tomorrow evening against the winner of Vanderbilt and Hawaii.

First Half

Caleb Lohner broke the two-and-a-half-minute scoreless start for the Cougars with a steal and breakaway dunk.

South Florida took a 6-4 lead after three BYU turnovers and a better shooting start than their previous games.

The Cougars and Bulls traded baskets to square the game at eight before USF hit their first three of the game to go up 11-8 with 13:53 left in the first half.

At the under-12 minute timeout the Cougars had gone 3-for-12 from the field and had yet to make a three-pointer.

With 9:41 left, George hit BYU’s first three of the give the Cougars the lead, 13-11. USF hit a pull-up jumper from the left wing to tie it at 13 with 8:51 left in the first.

After giving up two straight scores, the Cougars found themselves down 18-15 before Barcello scored his first bucket of the game. Barcello hit two straight triples and a back-door reverse layup to regain the lead, 23-18. 

The Cougars ended the half on a 16-4 run to take a 31-22 lead into the half. BYU finished the first 20 minutes shooting 40.7 percent from the field, 27.3 percent from behind the arc and 75 percent from the stripe. They outrebounded the Bulls by 10, tallied seven assists, two blocks, a steal and an uncharacteristic seven turnovers in the first half.

Second Half

Trevin Knell hit a baseline jumper to give the Cougars a double-digit lead for the first time in the game just 1:22 into the second half.

After having the lead cut to eight, Knell hit a three to give the Cougars an 11-point lead. Following the Knell three, BYU went eight straight possessions without a bucket and gave up two scores to the Bulls who cut the lead to five with 11:12 left.

Traore broke the almost seven minute scoring drought with two free-throws followed by a tip-in put-back from Lohner to stretch the BYU lead to nine with 9:18 to play.

After another three minutes of scoreless basketball George scored his first points of the game on a right wing three. On the next Cougar possession Traore slipped a screen for a one hand hammer to give BYU its largest lead of the game.

With 3:58 left, George buried his third three of the game from the right corner to give the Cougars a 13-point lead. On the next possession, Te’Jon Lucas hit a one hand, step-through runner with the shot clock winding down to extend the lead to 15 with 1:57 left.

BYU held the Bulls scoreless over the last four minutes of the game to secure a 15-point victory to advance to the winner's bracket. 

PROVO, Utah –BYU men’s basketball heads to HawaiI this week for the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic. The Cougars will play three games in four days beginning with South Florida on Wednesday, Dec. 22. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. MST.

Wednesday’s contest will be broadcast on ESPNU. It will also be broadcast live on BYU Sports Network on the BYU Radio – Sirius XM 143/89.1 FM HD2 and KSL 102.7 FM/1160 AM.

BYU Notes (9-2, 0-0 West Coast Conference)

• Four players scored in double figures as BYU got back to winning ways on Saturday with a 89-71 victory over Weber State on Saturday. The Cougars made a season-high 16 3-pointers as they shot over 60 percent from downtown for the first time this season.
• With their first win over Weber State in Ogden since 2014, BYU still hasn’t lost consecutive regular season games under Mark Pope.
• Alex Barcello is in line to make his 71st consecutive start on Wednesday, which would tie Mekeli Wesley and Brandon Davies for the 10th longest streak in program history. The senior guard also ranks 13th in the 3-point field goals with 135.

Head Coach – Mark Pope

• Alma Mater: Kentucky, 1996
• Division I Career Record: 130-73 (7th Season)
• Record at BYU: 53-17 (3rd Season)

South Florida Notes (4-5, 0-0 American Athletic Conference)

• South Florida enters the Diamond Head Classic at 4-5 overall following a 65-55 setback to Florida on Saturday in Sunrise, Fla.
• Caleb Murphy is the leading scorer for the Bulls as the Youngstown, Ohio native is averaging 13.0 points per game. He is shooting 45.5 percent from the floor and 52.8 percent from the free throw after being named to the American Athletic Conference All-Freshman team in 2020-21.
• USF ranks in the Top 15 nationally in two defensive categories, field goal percentage and scoring. Opposing teams are scoring just 57.4 points per game against the Bulls while shooting 37.2 percent.

Head Coach – Brian Gregory

• Alma Mater: Oakland, 1990
• Career Record: 309-251 (18th season)
• Record at South Florida: 61-61 (5th season)

Series Information

• Series Record: BYU leads 1-0
• Last Meeting: BYU won 77-75 (2ot), November 26, 2010
• H/A/N: 0-0/0-0/1-0

Broadcast Information

• TV: ESPNU
• TV Talent: Roxy Bernstein, Corey Williams
• Radio: BYU Sports Network, BYU Radio Sirius XM 143/89.1 FM HD2, KSL 102.7 FM/1160 AM
• Streamed Audio: BYURadio.org, BYUCougars.com/LiveRadio and the BYU Radio, BYU Cougars and BYU Gameday apps
• Radio Talent: Greg Wrubell, Mark Durrant
• Live stats: BYUCougars.com