Despite coming off a two-year LDS mission to Italy this year, BYU sophomore Erik Mika hasn’t shown any rust as the 6-foot-10 forward has NBA scouts drooling.

Colorado was the latest victim as the stat-sheet stuffer finished the game with 17 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and three blocks in just 30 minutes of action in the Cougars’ 79-71 victory at home.

What’s even more impressive is that BYU head coach Dave Rose told reporters after the game that Mika wasn’t feeling well after battling food poisoning this week.

Yikes!

Imagine what he would have done against the Buffs if he was healthy.

Nick Emery led the way for the Cougars as he chipped in with a game-high 22 points and TJ Haws and Yoeli Childs each had 16 and 11 points respectively before an announced crowd of 13,664.

The win was huge for BYU as it was in need of a solid win to continue to bolster its resume come March. Colorado came into Saturday’s game coming off a 68-66 win over No. 13 Xavier. The Buffs also beat Texas earlier this season and are by far the biggest win of the year for the Cougars.

Mika Channels His Inner LeBron

With BYU up 64-62 and with just 7:22 left in the game, Colorado looked like it was going to tie things up with a 2-on-1 fast break as Colorado’s Bryce Peters dished the ball of to Thomas Akyazili as Haws stepped over.

But little did Akyazilive know that Mika was coming with a chase-down block. As he went up, Akyazili was met by Mika’s hand as he blocked the shot off the backboard to keep the momentum going in the Cougars’ favor.

The block looked nearly identical to the one in Game 7 of the NBA Finals this past summer. That of course is now known as “The Block” as Cleveland’s LeBron James chased down Golden State’s Andre Iguodala for a game-saving block to help lift the Cavs to the victory and become the first team in NBA history to rally from a 3-1 deficit.

Mika Jokes

After taking a long pass from Haws with just over a minute to go, Mika was intentionally fouled just as he was about to throw down another massive dunk.

With nobody on the line, Mika’s first foul shot hit nothing but the bottom of the net. After sinking the shot, Mika took a step forward and pretended to shake hands with his teammates that obviously weren’t there.

Was Mika being funny or was he just going through his routine? As most shooters will tell you, you have to stick with your routine and that’s what Mika did.

But that didn’t stop the Twittersphere (and us) from poking some fun.

Last, but not least, Cougar fans took the opportunity to poke fun of their rival up on the Hill after what happened this year in the PAC-12 South football race.

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