Cougars learned Wednesday in romp over Queens that transfer guard Dawson Baker can still light it up

At first glance, it appeared that new coach Kevin Young’s BYU basketball team didn’t get a lot out of Wednesday night’s exhibition-like 99-55 win over visiting Queens University of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Having played at Utah on Tuesday night, losing 96-65 in Salt Lake City, it was a big ask for the visitors to roll into Provo and put up even a speck of resistance. And that they did, before Young gave his guys something of a talking-to early in the second half.
Leading 38-5 with about seven minutes remaining in the first half, the Cougars (3-0) went into a Marriott Center-sized lull and the Royals started raining 3-pointers. They scored 15 quick points in a three-minute span, all from the 3-point line, and trailed just 51-26 at the break.
“I think the biggest thing is we got off to a good start, obviously, and then we had a lull,” Young said. “But in the second half I wasn’t happy with our level of focus and I challenged the guys. … I thought from that point forward it was a totally different game. I like the way our guys responded from being challenged.”
The Cougars also learned that redshirt junior guard Dawson Baker really can light it up.
Baker, the transfer from UC Irvine who sat out most of last season with a foot injury, poured in 22 points on 8 of 10 shooting in the rout in front of 16,789 fans, who saved their biggest roar of the night for BYU kicker Will Ferrin, hero of the 22-21 football win over Utah last Saturday.
Baker averaged 15.3 points per game for the Anteaters in 2022-23, and showed BYU fans what they were missing last year when the Cougars desperately needed another scoring option to complement Jaxson Robinson and company.
His career-high at Irvine was 33.
Baker was 6 of 7 from 3-point range, and BYU was 15 of 35 from deep. Trevin Knell was also hot, going 6 of 9 from the field and 4 of 7 from beyond the arc.
“It was good to see some guys get going offensively. There was a lot to like. … Just that response out of that timeout is what we will take from this game more than anything,” Young said.
So the Cougars are good listeners — and solid passers. Sometimes unselfish to a fault, they assisted on 25 of the 40 made field goals.
Young was most pleased with Baker’s efficiency; his plus-minus was a positive 29 and he reached his scoring high as a Cougar in 18 minutes of play. His season-high last year was 10 points.
“He was making quick decisions. That is something we have been on him about since I got here — dribbling less, doing more with less, basically,” Young said of Baker. “It was really good to see him have a night like that in front of the crowd. He has had days like that in practice, hasn’t been able to put it together in the game until today. I just liked how efficient and aggressive he was.”
BYU hosts Idaho on Saturday at 1 p.m. in what should be a more competitive game, more similar to Friday’s 86-80 win over UC Riverside. Young said the new staff inherited the Queens game from the former staff, which apparently set it up through former BYU director of operations Bobby Horodyski, now a Queens assistant.
“Yeah, a good game for us. A big turning point that coach Young mentioned, he told us in the huddle to dial in, to lock in on some things, despite the score,” Baker said. “From there, I think our energy changed a lot. That is a good thing for us to be able to look back on when games get rough, that we can dial in and execute better.”
The game also marked the return to Utah County of former Lone Peak High star Jackson Pollard, son of former BYU and USC 7-footer Alan Pollard. Jackson scored nine points on 3 of 11 shooting and made a couple of 3-point plays.
“That is a good team. That is tough for them to come in and play back-to-back games at altitude like this. I think we put it on them. We did well in transition. And just playing on two feet for me was a big emphasis,” Baker said.
There is plenty still to work on, however.
Namely, BYU has to get better at guarding the 3-point line. The Royals were 11 of 30 from long range, many of them wide open shots. Why were the Royals so open from deep?
“Some of it was bad luck, some of it was poor closeouts,” Young said, noting that he watched all the 3s Queens attempted at halftime to figure it out. “But give them credit. We were sort of challenging certain guys to make shots. They came in and made shots, so we had to adjust in the second half. I thought we did a pretty good job from that standpoint.”
The Cougars were also a bit sloppy with the ball, committing 12 turnovers. Point guards Dallin Hall and Trey Stewart remained sidelined by injuries, but Young has said Hall should return to action soon.
Knell hit his first five shots, including four 3-pointers, to ensure there would be no upset. The first 10 Cougars who played scored.
“Coach Young was super focused on our first play of the game (which gave him an open 3-pointer),” Knell said. “It was great to get a good start. I feel like our team is really coming together with our chemistry and everything.”
Highlights of the first half were Keba Keita’s dunk off a lob from Elijah Crawford, and Mihailo Boskovic’s reverse layup.
Keita finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds for his second-straight double-double. Freshman Egor Demin had 14 points and five assists in 27 minutes, while Fousseyni Traore chipped in 12 rebounds and four points in 16 minutes.