BYU Basketball Loses Heartbreaker to Rival Utah

On Saturday night, Kevin Young and the BYU basketball program lost an overtime heartbreaker to archrival Utah. With five seconds remaining and trailing 73-72, BYU veteran Trevin Knell went to the free throw line for a one-and-one. Knell missed the front end and Utah got the basketball back with five seconds remaining.

After missing both free throws, BYU had one last chance and Egor Demin missed the game-winning shot. The Cougars fell to the Utes 73-72.

With the loss to Utah, BYU drops to 0-4 in overtime games and games decided by five points or less. The loss also puts BYU at 2-4 in Big 12 play.

The Cougars were led in scoring by veterans Richie Saunders and Fousseyni Traore who had 16 points apiece.

Once again, the free throw line doomed BYU in this game. The Cougars shot 4/10 from the free throw line. Utah didn't shoot a great percentage either, but they did outscore BYU 17-4 from the free throw line. That was the difference in the game.

On defense, the Cougars struggled to contain Utah forward Ezra Ausar in the second half. Ausar finished with a game-high 26 points on 11/15 from the floor.

For BYU, their late-game issues come back to the same problem: BYU lacks a closer. That's something that will need to be resolved if BYU hopes to win tossup games.

With the loss to Utah, BYU's upcoming game at Colorado becomes a must-win game to stay in the NCAA Tournament conversation.