BYU Basketball Can't Afford a Slow Start Against Kansas

Slows starts coming out of the locker room have plagued BYU over the last few games

On Tuesday night, BYU will take on the Kansas Jayhawks in the historic Allen Fieldhouse. The Cougars, who have struggled in true road games this season, will try to hand the Jayhawks their first home loss of the season. To pull off the upset, BYU must avoid a slow start.

BYU lost a tough game at Kansas State on Saturday. Of the handful of things that BYU didn't do well in this game, it was BYU's slow start that hurt them the most. Kansas State got out to a 16-4 lead in the first 4:20 of this game. BYU outscored Kansas State 70-68 the rest of the way.

Slow starts coming out of the locker room have been a disconcerting trend for this BYU basketball team. Kansas State got off to a quick 5-0 run in the first minute of the second half as well. If you exclude those two runs at the start of both halves for the Wildcats, BYU outscored Kansas State 70-63.

Against Baylor, the Bears got out to an 8-0 run in the first half and a 6-0 run in the second half in BYU's 78-71 win. If you exclude those runs to start both halves, BYU outscored Baylor 78-57. At home, BYU has enough offensive firepower to overcome a deficit. On the road, BYU hasn't been able to pair consistent shooting with good defense to get back in games.

This is a risk that BYU takes when they have Jaxson Robinson in a sixth-man capacity. Robinson is BYU's leading scorer and probably the best on the roster at getting an independent bucket. BYU is more susceptible to slow starts in the first few minutes with Robinson on the bench. 

BYU is already a 6.5-point underdog. The Cougars can't afford to play from behind against Kansas. If Kansas gets into a rhythm early, it will be really, really challenging to come back from a deficit.

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Casey Lundquist
CASEY LUNDQUIST

Casey Lundquist is the publisher and lead editor of Cougs Daily. He has covered BYU athletics for the last four years. During that time, he has published over 2,000 stories that have reached more than three million people.