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BYU Basketball Will be Without Aly Khalifa Against West Virginia

Originally posted on FanNation Cougs Daily
By Casey Lundquist | Last updated 2/3/24

No. 22 BYU basketball is 3-4 in conference play and coming off a midweek bye. The Cougars will look to continue their winning streak on Saturday afternoon against the West Virginia Mountaineers. The Cougars will be without starting big man Aly Khalifa, KSL Sports announced on the pregame show. Robby McCombs of Vanquish the Foe was the first to report the news. Khalifa, according to McCombs, is dealing with flu-like symptoms.

Khalifa is a critical absence in this game at West Virginia. So much of BYU's offense runs through Khalifa. Even when he's not scoring, he makes a major impact on the game with his passing, rebounding, and defense.

Without Khalifa in the lineup, BYU will turn to Fousseyni Traore and Atiki Ally Atiki. Traore has been ramping up his minutes since he suffered a hamstring injury earlier this season. Atiki has fallen out of the rotation over the last few games.

Game Information

BYU (15-5) vs West Virginia (8-13)
Saturday, February 3
Tipoff: 4:00 p.m. MT
Morgantown, West Virginia
WVU Coliseum

BYU in the Polls

On Monday, the new AP poll for college basketball was released and BYU dropped one spot from no. 21 to no. 22 after splitting last week's homestand against Houston and Texas. BYU has a midweek bye this week, but they will look to continue their winning streak on Saturday against West Virginia. This is the tenth consecutive week that BYU basketball has been ranked in the top 25. That's the fourth-longest streak in program history according to Greg Wrubell.

No conference in college basketball has more ranked teams than the Big 12. BYU is one of eight Big 12 teams in the AP top 25. They are joined by Houston (4), Kansas (8), Iowa State (12), Texas Tech (15), Baylor (18), Oklahoma (23), and TCU (25).

Below is the full AP top 25.