Greg Wrubell talks Baylor impressions on BYUSN

BYU Sports Nation continues live from Studio B Spencer Linton and jerem Jordan here and we welcome in the voice of the Cougars Greg Rebel who joins us to I guess just bask in this wonderful amazing win by BYU over Baylor last night it may be cool and gray and Soggy outside it's a beautiful morning beautiful morning it's amazing you're basking in the warmth of this victory yeah uh Greg so many great moment last night so many great numbers and trends that BYU kind of broke after the last three gam

es so let's just start with that kind of all-encompassing question what were your favorite moments and stats that you take from last night's game well I I I I really want to focus on defensive stats because you know although by was winning games recently there was some slippage and and the vibe wasn't quite right they were winning but you know it kind of felt like they weren't maybe themselves or or how they like like let's play like us let's be us and they got got back to being the MFL you hold

Baylor to to 37 and 34 in two halves a 71o night that's a low number for that Baylor team and um you know they they're they're so expert at winning games in which they outshoot the opponent you don't win games against Baylor when they outshoot you and Baylor outshot BYU last night and it's the first time in 93 games that they outshot an opponent and did not win well how does that happen wild opportunities BYU got 15 more shots up courtesy of great ball security only seven turnovers and a ton of

offensive rebounds they've got 34 offensive rebounds in the last two games 41 Second Chance points in the last two games now they lost one one1 but it says the energy is there it says the hustle is there and they are grinding for opportunities which is what you need against a team like Baylor and they got them and and then when when so many of your opportunities are turning into three-point attempts you know BYU takes 36 and and shoots in the high 30 and shoots in the high 30s Baylor takes 20 a

nd shoots at 25% well well there's your ball game by will win that game if they're going 14 for 36 they're going to win most of those games that's kind of a wheelhouse game for BYU and 14 by the way is the most they've made in any big 12 game yet this year the most I think since the Wyoming Game in on December 30th so this was a high water mark for BYU but again showing they don't need to be ex they don't need to be 45% if they're in the in in the in the mid to high 30s they're going to win a lo

t of those games in fact I think they're now 17 and two when they shoot 33% or better that's one of every three that's not crazy it's good but 177 and two and they're 33% or better when they lose games they're in the high 20s low 30s uh but last night the kind of game that by is going to win so as many good things happened offensively I just love the defensive effort and it just felt like it was back like there was just there was an engagement it felt like like what happened in Still Water was k

ind of if not necessarily needed they they they built off of it and it said you know what we're going to we're not going to have that just be a down note and something we have to live with we're going to build off of that and take that moment and learn to play better because of it and I think they did last night you'd like to win both Oklahoma State and Baylor but if I told you you only win one I'd take Baylor over Oklahoma State because bu made that a quad to by being a top 10 team so in the en

d that was a really nice turnaround from a tough loss and maybe BYU wins last night because they lost on Saturday because of what got addressed during the week right um because again if you got slippage but you're winning it's not as urgent as if you got slippage and you lose a game you're not supposed to lose it really kind of increases the urgency and so maybe one beg got begat the other last night and I really do think that what comes up next which is Saturday in Manhattan BYU has a much bett

er chance to win that game now because of two things what happened last night which proved to them we're still good we're still really good and what happened last Saturday because last Saturday it was a lower tier team early game maybe one they kind of thought we've got and who think you know you don't take anything for granted the Big 12 but maybe it creeps in a little bit but what happened Saturday plus what happens last night I think really helps BYU at K State and I think there was the notio

n that last night kind of again showed the guys and were really good you know let's remind ourselves that just just how good a team we can be by beating a team like number 11 Baylor one of the best teams in the country one of the best offenses in the country comes in and and the Cougars looked just tremendous and and as Ali Khalifa went I think went BYU last night too um you know coach Pope one of his objectives for last night was let's get Ali going again because Ali felt ready to go again and

you could see it and you f it felt it and you saw it in the numbers um I I really do think that's a great sign if if Ali is back so to speak and last night testifies to that what a great weapon to have for the stretch run and like his brand was on display too like everybody next that was watching super dut was like this guy's awesome he's a unicorn right uh you know I like Mike Bon cin the seven foot point guard no offense to D Hall but he says you know he handles it enough to to kind of be like

that guy out there and uh I mean come on seven assists and no turnovers last night with his 14 points and seven rebounds I mean Ray J Dennis has the ball the whole night for Baylor he goes 8-2 Ali goes 7-0 by the way Ray J was the only player with an assist for Baylor last night wild only player I didn't know so so the eight assist number is low for Baylor really low for Baylor but just one guy had assist um and of course bu spreads it around pretty well that was the Jazz for 20 years too I I j

ust love you know and and Ali's game last night it was moments you talk you ask about moments right it was moments you know Bo's down eight early Ali bangs a three it's a tie game late in the first half Ali hits a three and then right before the half another three to push it to seven then Baylor takes a lead in the second half for the only time what's the very next play Ali gets Noah yes you know on a wide open layup and then um you know Ali hits a pick and pop three from D Hall that was his las

t scoring in fact Ali scores his last bucket with 1414 to play but his impact was felt moving forward there's one of the most beautiful plays in fact I want people to go back and watch this if you can just go to your ESPN app and get the game from last last night go to 733 left in the game it's a beautiful play in which Ali has the ball on the right wing Richie Saunders yes runs a fake pin down and even signals like I'm going to set a screen for D Hall slips off it loses Caleb loner and goes to

the rim and Ali and it just it's just such a beautiful play and and it was orchestrated so perfectly and then the last assist Ali has is a little handoff to to Trevon for a three there was a huge three late to push it to seven so all these moments were big when BYU needs a bucket either coming out of a timeout or a really crucial moment it's going to be oi finding somebody probably for something that looks kind of easy in the end which it isn't but they make it look easy it was that pass to Rich

ie Saunders that Scott Vel showed last night with Stanford Steve that prompted Stanford Steve to say he's my favorite player in the entire country it was that play and it was gorgeous and it shows the versatility with which BYU operates because BYU runs that that that uh runs that look and runs that that that motion where yeah you're going to pin and then D's going to come up and curl instead Richie just you know fakes it cuts to the hoop and Ali Boop and it was just uh yeah beautiful moment it'

s just beautiful basketball it's just fun to watch and uh boy at the peak of its powers now with a real tough stretch obviously at Kansas State Buy 2-0 in game twos by the way with the opponent hopefully it's 3 and0 on Saturday at Kansas historical opportunity TCU at home tough game uh and then of course at Iowa State going to be tough you hope you be to Oklahoma State the hope is BU avoids a three-game losing streak all year so far so good they've been able to rebound really well coming off of

losses here and there yeah and and you're sitting at seven- six with five to play You're two wins away from a 500 record in the Big 12 in your first year in this league you're three wins away from a winning record in the Big 12 in your first year in the conference you've got two home games left but if you can beat Baylor at home you can with the same effort hope to beat TCU and Oklahoma State at home well those would be your two and get you to nine and and and if they find one on the road somewh

ere I mean gr granted K State and rather Kansas and Iowa State haven't lost a home game yet um so K State's the one maybe you target a little bit but again after last week and still water it's the great lesson right you don't Target anything or expect anything but if you you can find one on the road take care of his is at home suddenly you're looking at a winning record in the Big 12 in their first year in this conference and again you can't look too far ahead with anybody in this league one gam

e at a time but right now seven and six is a great place to be at the very least BYU is putting itself farther and farther away from having to play a Tuesday game in Kansas city is what it comes down to so you've got three teams that kind of look targeted for that game right now in Oklahoma State West Virginia UCF K State could be that that that fourth team or at least the separation becomes greater if you get the sweep of K State because then you have tie breaks over K State and UCF and and so

the farther you can push yourself away from that bottom tier the more you avoid having to play an extra game in casc put yourself in that top 10 I think in the first season in the Big 12 being a top 10 team getting a first round buy uh in Kansas City uh what a great way to start uh your tenure in this conference spectacular well you've heard the stat that we just presented I did that all but guarantees that by is going to have success in the NCA tournament the only I can the only one I can guara

ntee is that BYU will be in the NC tournament based on my kenpom stats so uh I've got these kenpom data archival things that go back and that prove that BYU will absolutely be in the NCA tournament because they were yes a 10 kenpom top 10 te on on February 1st and every kenpom top 10 team on February first has played in that Year's NCA tournament since the kenpom ranking anyway so they're in right Oma we go come on now Pittsburgh we go it's just a question of yeah the seating and where and let's

say the BYU does win nine games in the Big 12 and maybe they get a 10th win by winning a game in Kansas City and and they win one at the Big 12 tournament I mean is it is it too crazy to think that the Cougars could legitimately be playing in Salt Lake City as a fight seed at that juncture yeah I I think probably five's your cut off to be there um but I I think I think if you end up at 500 in the Big 12 you're probably looking at a favored seed in the NCL tournament which means seven or better

and I think first year in the Big 12 I remember sitting down with you guys before the season and and and you know postseason play some kind of postseason play is a great place to start well went from some kind of postseason play to now well NCAA looks like it's going to happen then you go from there to could you be a favored seed in the NCAA and then it goes to could you be your backyard in the NC all in BYU's first year in the Big 12 for the team picked 13th in this league by the coaches when t

he season began yep wild pretty awesome it is amazing it's been such a wild ride and it's a Peaks and valleys thing and yeah they they just went through a bit of a valley last couple weeks um you know escaped with a couple winds took a hard hit in still water but you know what came of it I think what came of it was last night and hopefully even better nights to come down the stretch it has been such a blast Big 12 is so I mean every time we sit down with Mark Pope in postgame uh and and they and

they've won a game mind you this is not his attitude after losses but after a win there's just this smile and this exhalation and it's like is this league crazy or what and we're we're we're succeeding in it it is just the best feeling it is the best feel thank you for Basking with us on this winning Happ bask in the lights of Studio much basking going on it is so much fun what's going on right now and cougar nation is fully on board how about the sellout last night on a Tuesday night 17978 and

every coach and player that comes in from these big 12 go yeah it's a big 12 I mean it's a big 12 gym it's a big 12 crowd it's as good as anything out there uh everyone says it everyone believes it everyone sees it that's the great thing is this is being spread you know across the country what's happening in Provo it's a special thing great stuff thanks Greg anytime