The No. 13 Cougars are eyeing a deep tournament run behind the top prospect in the country. <\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThey play Kansas tomorrow,\u201d Demin said with a smile on Saturday. \u201cBig game, really excited. I\u2019m going to watch that one for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
We caught up with Demin to get his thoughts on the NBA lifestyle, AJ Dybantsa, Kevin Young and his take on BYU hoops. <\/p>\n
Q: When you reflect on your first year in the NBA, what areas have you grown the most since leaving BYU?<\/p>\n
A: “I think the process never stopped ever since I got to BYU. Obviously my shot [improved], the defense, physicality, just getting stronger and getting more mature, right? And growing in my head, not just my body.<\/p>\n
Q: You\u2019ve set the rookie record with 34 consecutive games with a three. Does that mean anything to you?<\/p>\n
A: \u201cI\u2019m trying not to think about that so much, honestly. Just trying to stay focused on what I can do best, right? And what I can do better on the court and off the court. Those are the types of things I\u2019m trying to keep up with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Q: How do you feel like playing in BYU coach Kevin Young\u2019s system helped prepare you for the NBA?<\/p>\n
A: \u201cHe\u2019s an NBA coach, so he taught me basically whatever I had to know to be able to play in the NBA level. Maybe not a skill set, because at the end of the day, you get to the league and you have to be yourself. But he brought a lot of knowledge, he gave us a lot of knowledge, right? I\u2019m ready to play and I know what I\u2019m doing and I have an idea of what it is. He gave me this base of an NBA player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Q: What is your relationship with Kevin, and the rest of the program, now?<\/p>\n
A: \u201cI text him from time to time. He texts me sometimes. So you know, he texted me today. Several coaches texted me today, and I wish they were all here and I would get them all tickets, that\u2019s for sure. They are in Lawrence now to play Kansas.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Nate Edwards | BYU) BYU freshman Egor Demin talks with head coach Kevin Young during his debut on Nov. 5, 2024<\/p>\n
Q: Any thoughts on the current group with AJ, Rob Wright and Richie Saunders?<\/p>\n
A: \u201cThey look awesome. I thought they look amazing. Obviously, it\u2019s a pretty different team from the last year. They play a very dominant brand of basketball, like a powerful type of basketball, right? But KY is KY. I know they\u2019re gonna figure it out, no matter who are the players around him there.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Anna Fuder | AP) Brooklyn Nets rookie Egor Demin shoots during a game against the Utah Jazz.<\/p>\n
Q: What\u2019s your favorite part of life in the NBA?<\/p>\n
A: No classes. Don\u2019t have to wake up for classes. But I mean, the NBA is obviously both very busy, but also more time for yourself. So it\u2019s a lot of travel, so much more traveling. So much more playing and so much less practicing. That\u2019s pretty much it, honestly.<\/p>\n
Q: You have 30 family and friends in the building. How did BYU and the people help shape who you are?<\/p>\n
A: \u201cIt\u2019s a lot about the culture at BYU. I know how united it is, the BYU organization. Not just basketball or just football, but the whole sports department together. I\u2019ve been lucky enough to end up at that school and gained so many friends and so many people around me who want the best for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Demin, a former top 10 pick from BYU, was just named to the Rising Stars game. (Francisco Kjolseth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[5654,64,63,95304,135429,170827,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-449735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-athletics","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-brigham-young-university","12":"tag-byu","13":"tag-cougars","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}