No. 20 BYU cruises past UCF in wire-to-wire victory

Fousseyni Traore tallied 14 points and 10 rebounds to lead No. 20 BYU to an 87-73 victory over UCF in the second round of the Big 12 tournament on Wednesday.

Richie Saunders and Dallin Hall scored 13 points apiece for the fifth-seeded Cougars. Trevin Knell chipped in 12 points.

BYU (23-9) advances to face fourth seed Texas Tech in the Big 12 quarterfinals on Thursday after going 14-for-30 from 3-point range. Five players made two or more 3-pointers for the Cougars.

Darius Johnson led UCF with a career-high 32 points, including six 3-pointers. Antwann Jones scored 13 points and Jaylin Sellers chipped in 12 for the Knights. UCF (17-15) trailed wire-to-wire after a sluggish start on offense and lost to the Cougars for the third time this season.

BYU blindsided 12th-seeded UCF early with stifling defense and explosive perimeter shooting.

The Cougars did not allow a field goal over the first 4 1/2 minutes while racing out to a 21-3 lead. Four different players made a 3-pointer for BYU in the first five minutes. Aly Khalifa led the way with a pair of outside baskets.

UCF, on the other hand, missed 17 of its first 20 shots.

BYU scored only two baskets over the final 6 1/2 minutes of the first half, opening the door for the Knights to rally. Johnson made back-to-back 3-pointers to trim the deficit to 47-38 going into halftime.

It set the stage for a bigger UCF rally early in the second half.

Knell made back-to-back baskets and Noah Waterman followed with a layup to extend BYU's lead to 57-46. Johnson countered with three baskets in a 10-2 Knights' run, cutting the deficit to 59-56.

UCF did not draw any closer. Three straight baskets from Waterman, Saunders, and Hall fueled a 12-0 run that put the Cougars up 71-56.