Getty
Following a tough home loss to Houston over the weekend, BYU heads on the road for the first time since its season opener to take on Illinois State at Redbird Arena on Wednesday.
The game is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET. While it won’t be broadcast nationally on television anywhere in the US, you can still watch a live stream of the game on your computer, phone or streaming device via ESPN+, the new digital streaming service from ESPN that broadcasts dozens of college basketball games every week.
You can sign up for a free 7-day trial of ESPN+ right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.
If you can’t watch live, all games–including BYU vs Illinois State–that are streamed on ESPN+ are also available to be watched afterwards on-demand via ESPN.com or the ESPN app.
Preview
Following a loss on the road to then No. 7 Nevada to open the year, BYU bounced back with wins over powerhouses such as Utah Valley, Northwestern State, Oral Roberts, Alabama A&M and Rice at home. With a loss against a Top-10 opponent, and wins against five teams that have an average rank of 286th in Ken Pomeroy’s rankings, it was a little difficult to tell if this team was good or bad or somewhere in between.
On Saturday, though, they suffered an ugly 14-point loss to Houston. Kelvin Sampson has a good squad, but a double-digit loss at home in a game in which they were favored by two was not a good look for BYU.
Fortunately, they get a good bounce-back opportunity in this one, going on the road to take on a solid mid-major squad in Illinois State.
The Redbirds are 5-2 on the season with some solid wins over Akron (130th in Pomeroy’s rankings) and Boise State (121st) on neutral courts. They have a star in Milik Yarbrough, who’s averaging 16.7 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists in just 23.9 minutes per contest, they have a veteran squad, as the top six scorers are all upperclassmen, and they were picked to finish second in the MVC behind last year’s Final Four squad Loyola Chicago.
BYU, meanwhile, counters with a pair of stars in juniors Yoeli Childs and TJ Haws. Childs is averaging 20.0 points and 12.0 rebounds per game, while Haws–the younger brother of 2014 WCC Player of the Year Tyler–is knocking down 2.3 treys per contest on his way to 15.7 points per game.
But while Haws and Childs have been very good, getting a consistent third scorer will still be a key for the Cougars moving forward. Jashire Hardnett is third on the team in scoring at 11.4 per game, but he was mostly invisible in the loss to Houston on Saturday, scoring four points on five field-goal attempts. In that game, Haws and Childs combined for 41 but no one else on the team had more than five.
Nevertheless, there’s still plenty of time for BYU to right the ship after a somewhat inconsistent start to the season. Getting a win Wednesday on the road against a good, veteran Illinois State team is an important first step in doing exactly that.