The 2020–21 BYU Cougars men's basketball team represented Brigham Young University in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. It was head coach Mark Pope's second season as BYU's head coach and the Cougars tenth season as members of the West Coast Conference (WCC). The Cougars played their home games at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah. They finished the season 20–7, 10–3 in WCC Play to finish in 2nd place. They beat Pepperdine in the semifinals of the WCC tournament before losing in the championship game to Gonzaga. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they lost in the First Round to UCLA.
Previous season The Cougars finished the 2019–20 season 24–8, 13–3 in West Coast Conference play to finish in second place. As the No. 2 seed in the WCC Tournament, they lost to Saint Mary's in the semifinals. Despite being a virtual lock to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, all postseason play was cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Offseason
Departures Seven seniors departed from the basketball team either to graduation or a completion of their college eligibility. Three of the seven were starters - Yoeli Childs, T. J. Haws and Jake Toolson and two of them were important bench players that saw significant playing time - Zac Seljaas and Dalton Nixon. These seniors contributed 70% of the scoring for the prior year team. Blaze Nield also left the team after entering the transfer portal in March 2020. In April, he transferred to Utah Valley University making it the third team Nield had played for in as many years. He played his freshman season at Utah State University Eastern in Price, Utah. Evan Troy will continue with the team as a graduate assistant. + Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure G 215 Bountiful, UT Graduated G 185 Lehi, UT Transferred to Utah Valley G 205 (Redshirt) Gilbert, AZ Completed College Eligibility G 200 Fullerton, CA Graduated F 225 South Jordan, UT Graduated G 180 Longview, WA Graduated G 170 Alpine, UT Graduated F 215 (Redshirt) Orem, UT Graduated
Incoming transfers On October 18, 2019, Spencer Johnson announced his decision to transfer from Salt Lake Community College to BYU. Johnson had initially committed to Weber State in 2016, but when he returned from serving a mission in Milan, Italy, he transferred to Utah Valley University partway through his redshirt freshman year. Then he decided to transfer to Salt Lake Community College where he played his first season of college basketball. For the 2020–21 season, Johnson is a redshirt sophomore, initially with 3 seasons of eligibility remaining. On February 24, Gideon George from New Mexico Junior College announced his decision to transfer to BYU. He will transfer as a junior and initially had two years of eligibility remaining. On April 23, 2020, Purdue center Matt Haarms decided to transfer to BYU for his final year of eligibility. Haarms, reported as the nation's top available transfer at the time, had previously narrowed his choices to BYU, Kentucky and Texas Tech despite 25 or more schools contacting him regarding his decision. Because he is a graduate transfer, Haarms is eligible to play immediately. On June 12, 2020, it was announced that Brandon Averette would transfer from UVU to play his final year of college eligibility for BYU. Because Averette is a graduate transfer, he is eligible to play for the 2020–21 season. In June 2020 Brandon Warr was reported to have transferred to BYU from Westminster College as a walk-on. Warr will redshirt the 2020–21 season and play what was intended to be his final year of college eligibility during the 2021–22 season.
On October 14, 2020, the NCAA announced that all student-athletes involved in winter sports in 2020–21, including men's and women's basketball, would receive an extra year of eligibility, regardless of whether they or their teams actually participated in the 2020–21 season. This special rule, introduced due to COVID-19, allows five years of eligibility for student-athletes instead of the normal four. All entries in the "Years Remaining" column reflect this policy.
+ Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown PreviousSchool YearsRemaining DateEligible Walk On/Scholarship Rivals 247Sports ESPN ESPN GradeBrandon Warr 2G 210Salt Lake City, UTWestminster College 2 October 1, 2021 Walk On N/A N/A N/A N/A 3 C 250 (Redshirt) Amsterdam, Netherlands Purdue 2 October 1, 2020 Scholarship 3-star 3-star 4-star 80Brandon Averette 4G 185 (Redshirt)Richardson, TXUtah Valley 2 October 1, 2020 Scholarship 3-star 3-star N/A N/AGideon George 5F 180Minna, NigeriaNew Mexico JC 3 October 1, 2020 Scholarship N/A N/A N/A N/ASpencer Johnson 20 F 175 (Redshirt) American Fork, UT Salt Lake CC 4 October 1, 2020 Scholarship N/A N/A N/A N/A
Returned missionaries One returned missionary was added to the roster for the 2020–21 season. Hunter Erickson wore #1 and played at Timpview High School averaging 22 points his junior season. He is a 6'3" guard and weighs in at 185 pounds. He also received scholarship offers from Utah, Cal State Northridge and UC Santa Barbara. Due to the special NCAA eligibility rules for 2020–21, he will have five years of eligibility instead of the normal four. + Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown PreviousSchool YearsRemaining RecruitingClass Rivals 247Sports ESPN ESPN Grade 0 G 185 Provo, UT Timpview 5 2017 3-star 3-star 2-star N/A
Currently serving missionaries During the 2020–21 season, there are four team members that are currently serving full-time missions. Each of the four players have four years of eligibility remaining and will be part of the roster for the 2021–22 season. Nate Hansen and Trey Stewart will hold scholarship positions while Casey Brown and Jeremy DowDell will join as preferred walk-ons. + Name Number Pos. Height Weight Missionary Service Years Mission Location Hometown PreviousSchool YearsRemaining RecruitingClass Rivals 247Sports ESPN ESPN Grade G 175 2019–20 & 2020–21 --- Pleasant Grove, UT Pleasant Grove 4 2019 N/A N/A N/A N/A G 165 2019–20 & 2020–21 Arkansas Provo, UT Timpview 4 2019 3-star 3-star N/A N/A G 195 2019–20 & 2020–21 England & Washington American Fork, UT American Fork 4 2019 N/A N/A 4-star 80 G 180 2019–20 & 2020–21 Argentina Salt Lake City, UT Olympus 4 2019 N/A N/A N/A N/A
2020 recruiting class Six high school players committed to play for BYU from the 2020 recruiting class. Richie Saunders, Dallin Hall, Tanner Hayhurst and Tanner Toolson each plan to complete two-year full-time missionary service before joining the team for the 2022–23 season. Only Townsend Tripple and Caleb Lohner will join the roster for the 2020–21 season. Tripple had originally planned to complete missionary service before joining the team and was assigned to Argentina, but decided to delay his mission trip due to coronavirus and joined the roster as a walk-on. In early June, it was reported that Caleb Lohner, a four-star forward from Texas who had previously signed with Utah, requested a release from his National Letter of Intent to sign with BYU. Lohner was released, and on June 26 officially signed with the Cougars. Lohner will be a true freshman and is immediately eligible to play.
2021 Recruiting class Jake Wahlin committed to BYU in early September and officially signed on November 11, 2020. Wahlin was recruited by Arizona State, San Diego State and New Mexico as well as other schools. He plans to complete a mission trip and join the team for the 2023-24 season. In addition, forward Fousseyni Traore from Wasatch Academy signed with the Cougars on November 19, over schools such as Seton Hall and Utah State. He will join the program for the 2021-22 season. Atiki Ally Atiki, from the London Basketball Academy in Ontario, Canada, verbally committed to BYU on February 15, 2021 and will also join the program for the 2021-22 season.
Preseason polls and rankings In late October, BYU was selected to finish second in the West Coast Conference in the Preseason Men's Basketball Coaches Poll behind Gonzaga. Alex Barcello was named to the 2020-2021 All-WCC Pre-season Men's Basketball Team.
2020-21 WCC Preseason Men's Basketball Coaches PollRankTeam (First Place Votes)Points 1.Gonzaga (9)81 2.BYU (1)69 3.Saint Mary's634.Pepperdine575.San Francisco52 6.Santa Clara38 7.Loyola Marymount33 8.Pacific31 8.San Diego16 10.Portland10
In early November, Matt Haarms was named as one of the preseason 20 players to watch regarding the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award. Throughout the preseason, several media outlets ranked BYU among the top 100 Division I college basketball preseason teams for the 2020-21 season. Consistent with the WCC preseason coaches poll, many of the writers projected BYU second among WCC teams. A summary of the various preseason rankings that included BYU is as follows: +Writer(s)Organization/MetricDateBYU Overall RankBYU WCC RankTotal # Teams RankedNotes/ReferencesJoel WelserCollege Sports MadnessSeptember 25, 2020#48#2144Projected Postseason Tournament: NITJoe LunardiESPN BracketologyOctober 7, 2020#44 (11-seed * 4 regions)#268Projected 11-seed in play-in game of NCAA TournamentBart TorvikT-RankOctober 26, 2020#50#2357Ken PomeroyKenPomNovember 4, 2020#89#4357Matt NorlanderCBS SportsNovember 5, 2020#51#2357
Preseason injuries Several players dealt with injuries during the off-season. Jesse Wade had for some time had a knee injury which has prevented him from playing for BYU since he transferred from Gonzaga. He sat out the 2018–19 season due to his transfer, but was not able to play during the 2019–20 season due to his knee injury. Wade was cleared by doctors to practice with the team on June 1, 2020. Alex Barcello injured his wrist during the game at Pepperdine on February 29, 2020, yet still played 33 minutes in the final game of the season in the WCC tournament against St. Mary's. Barcello later had surgery on his wrist and was expected to be ready for team practices on June 1, 2020. Connor Harding had lingering knee issues during the 2019–20 season. Harding had knee surgery during the summer and is expected to be available to play at the start of the season. Wyatt Lowell announced via Instagram that he was going to have shoulder surgery on July 22, 2020. Lowell indicated that he had torn his labrum the prior week playing basketball. He is expected to be recovering for several months. At a media availability interview on November 12, Mark Pope indicated that Townsend Tripple had recently injured his knee and would not be available to play at the start of the season.
Roster
Media coverage
Radio Greg Wrubell and Mark Durrant return to call men's basketball for the 2020–21 season. Jason Shepherd will fill-in for Greg Wrubell whenever football conflicts arise (Dec 5 & 15), and Greg will call a few games solo due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Affiliates:
BYU Radio- Flagship Station Nationwide (Dish Network 980, Sirius XM 143, KBYU 89.1 FM HD 2, TuneIn radio, and byuradio.org) KSL 102.7 FM and 1160 AM- (Salt Lake City / Provo, Utah and ksl.com) KSNA 100.7 FM - Blackfoot / Idaho Falls / Pocatello / Rexburg, Idaho (games) KSPZ 105.1 FM and 980 AM- Blackfoot / Idaho Falls / Pocatello / Rexburg, Idaho (coaches' shows) KMXD 100.5 FM- Monroe / Manti, Utah KSVC 980 AM- Richfield / Manti, Utah KDXU 94.9 FM and 890 AM- St. George, Utah
Television