It was the kind of one-two punch BYU will need when it heads to the Big 12 in January.
The No. 19 Cougars posted a career-high 24 points off the bench and a smooth 22 points from senior starter Spencer Johnson to defeat Fresno State 85-56 on Friday at the Delta Center to move to 7-0 on the season.
This duo’s 46-point performance was just 10 fewer than the high-scoring Bulldogs could muster.
Robinson scored four 3-pointers and another basket (14 points) in a four-minute span in the second half, turning a 20-point game into a runaway affair. He made 9 of 17 from the field and 6 of 8 from distance, including one from 28 feet.
Johnson weaved his way through FSU’s defense and converted 9 of 12 field goals. He scored 12 of his 14 points in the first ten minutes of the game.
BYU head coach Mark Pope said he was impressed with how his team focused on small things that need constant refinement to be winners.
“Really what I’m most proud of is our guys are struggling right now to focus on the things that make them successful,” Pope said on KSL Radio’s postgame show.
“We have seven games in the season and every game and every extra day of training, whether you win or lose, whether things go well or badly, creates an additional distraction. So at the end of the season you can just have this landslide of distractions, and our guys did a good job of having a little bit of success and not getting distracted [rather] focusing on the things they do well.”
The Robinson-Johnson show ended up stealing an otherwise impressive passing game from transfer center Aly Khalifa, who destroyed Fresno State’s defense with a series of pick-and-roll passes and backcut dishes as part of his five assists.
“For a guy his size, he sees the court at a whole different level,” Khalifa reserve guard Richie Saunders said on KSL Radio’s postgame show.
Pope said Khalifa increases his offense by an additional 30 percent by distributing the ball to his teammates because he makes all their work off the ball worthwhile.
“I’ve been saying this for a few months and now I think people will start to believe me. “He’s the best 7-foot passer in college basketball,” Pope said.
Khalifa played in place of the injured Fouss Traore and prevented another problem for FSU with his vision and performance for the second game in a row.
BYU forced 21 turnovers from the Bulldogs, resulting in a devastating 36-7 lead for the Cougars in points without turnovers.
Isaiah Hill led the Bulldogs with 14 points.
BYU’s largest lead of 32 points was scored by Trevin Knell at 83:51. After Robinson’s heated four-minute flurry, the Cougars led 75-46 with just over five minutes to play.
BYU started the game 10 of 20 from the field but cooled to just 1 for 11, but led 36-23 before halftime thanks to a spectacular hook pass from Khalifa from the top of the key to Robinson, who easily made a layup past Fresno managed state defense.
BYU outscored Fresno State 15 to 5 on turnovers in the first half, with Johnson surpassing his season average by scoring 12 points in the first 10 minutes before finishing the half with 14 points to lead the Cougars.
The Bulldogs, who average 10 turnovers per game, had 11 at the break, a key to BYU’s early dominance and its largest lead of 29-13 with just over eight minutes left in the first half.
BYU got 12 points off the bench from Richie Saunders, most of them on hustle plays and steals.
BYU’s bench scored 42 points thanks to Robinson’s shooting display. Those 42 bench points surpassed BYU’s national runner-up, and the 32-point margin matched BYU’s national-leading seven-game average of 32.3.
BYU surpassed its season average of 21.7 assists per game and ranks third nationally with 23.