BYU basketball coach Kevin Young has said throughout his first season in Provo that the Cougars’ outstanding depth has been both a blessing and a curse.

“Probably our best team win of the year, just in terms of guys staying ready, not sulking or pouting on the bench, being ready to come in and contribute.”

—  BYU coach Kevin Young

Tuesday night at West Virginia, it was definitely a blessing.

Non-starters such as Kanon Catchings, Mihailo Boskovic, Trey Stewart and Fousseyni Traore were instrumental in the Cougars’ 73-69 win in front of 10,879 at WVU Coliseum as BYU beat West Virginia for the second time in two years on the Mountaineers’ home floor.

“Gutsy win by our guys,” Young said. “Probably our best team win of the year, just in terms of guys staying ready, not sulking or pouting on the bench, being ready to come in and contribute.”

Before delivering his postgame thoughts, Young honored former BYU basketball player Jake Shoff, who died in a car accident on I-15 last week.

BYU’s bench outscored WVU’s bench 38-18, as Young went with some unconventional lineups down the stretch, and Boskovic, for one, delivered in a big way. The 6-foot-10 junior from Uzice, Serbia, had six points and two rebounds in nine minutes of play and made the game-sealing 3-point play in the final 10 seconds.

“The play was designed to get Richie (Saunders) coming off the screen and kinda have Mihailo slip behind it. The guys really executed well on that last play,” Young said.

Boskovic and Egor Demin (16 points) were chosen to represent BYU at the postgame news conference in Morgantown and Boskovic spoke humbly when was asked about his driving layup with 9.3 seconds left, and free throw, that gave the Cougars a 73-69 lead.

“With the way we were playing, we were really determined,” Boskovic said. “When we do what we do best, we play really great. That 3-point play was at the end. I am glad we won on that. In this environment where it is hard to play, it is a great win.”

West Virginia led for more than 31 minutes of game time, while BYU led for only five minutes and 34 seconds. BYU used a 17-7 run in the final six minutes to steal it.

The difference between winning and losing in the Big 12 “is so marginal,” Young said. “Every little thing matters. … This league is extremely challenging. This is my first year in it, so I am learning on the fly. Every environment is tough to play in. Walking in here and seeing the sheer size of it (is overwhelming). You gotta be able to execute under very high pressure situations.”

That’s exactly what BYU did, most notably Stewart and defensive specialist Mawot Mag, who limited WVU’s Javon Small to four shots, including just one shot in the second half.

Young said forcing the 6-foot-3 Small to his right, not letting him get to his dominant left hand, was a big part of the game plan.

“He is one of the guys that I am really impressed with in this league. We put a ton of time into studying his game,” Young said. “Credit goes to Mawot Mag and Trey Stewart and the rest of our guys behind him. That’s something we talked about a lot. He is a tough cover with one-on-ones. We wanted to defend him with more than one guy.”

Although Boskovic gobbled up some minutes that usually go to them, Traore and Catchings also made clutch plays in crunch time. Catchings added 11 points and Traore had seven.

“I think we had a different disposition, a different mentality,” Young said. “I have been on our guys a lot (about that). As a coach, you think scheme, scheme, scheme. But sometimes it just comes down to toughness, just ball toughness and getting to where you want to get to. The officials were letting a lot go. I thought it was a little too physical, honestly. But our guys played through it.”

Young also praised the environment, calling it “really mind-blowing, to be honest.”

The coach said that through his time in the NBA he has met three of West Virginia’s greatest basketball players — Rod Thorn, Jerry West and former Utah Jazz broadcaster Hot Rod Hundley. Young said that after BYU’s shootaround on Tuesday morning, he went out and took a picture of West’s statue.

Next up for BYU (16-8, 7-6) is a showdown at the Marriott Center on Saturday (7 p.m. MST, ESPN+) against red-hot Kansas State. The Wildcats have won six straight games after a 1-6 start in Big 12 play, most recently a 73-70 victory over No. 13 Arizona.

They also defeated nationally ranked Kansas and Iowa State during that stretch.