BYU vs. Weber State Notes and Quotes

BYU vs. Weber State Box Score

BYU vs. Weber State Facebook Photo Gallery

PROVO, Utah – Junior guards Tyler Haws and Matt Carlino led the BYU men’s basketball team to a 81-72 victory over Weber State in its season opener at the Marriott Center on Friday.

"I'm pretty excited about that win," BYU men's basketball coach Dave Rose said. "It was a great atmosphere. We had a really good crowd and at times it felt like we were right in the middle of January." 

Highlights and Interviews here.

Haws finished with a double-double and game highs in points and rebounds with 28 and 13, respectively. His 13 rebounds were a career high. Carlino added 22 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals, while Kyle Collinsworth contributed a double-double of his own with 11 points and 10 rebounds, six assists, a block and a steal.

Freshman Eric Mika battled through foul trouble, but finished with seven points, five rebounds, two assists and three blocks. His three blocks are tied with Russell Larson for second most by a freshman in his BYU debut, with Shawn Bradley holding the record with five.

The Cougars’ defense held the Wildcats to a 39.4 shooting percentage and had the 46-40 rebounding edge. BYU kept the lead throughout the game with 40 points in the paint and outscored Weber State’s bench 11-0.

"I was pleased with our defensive effort," Rose said. "We played a little bit of zone and a majority of man and caused them to take some difficult shots. We kept them under 40 percent shooting, which is really hard to do in an NCAA game." 

The Cougars got off to a 17-5 start that opened with two buckets by Carlino and a three-point play by Haws. With 14:25 remaining in the first half, Carlino lobbed it to Luke Worthington for an easy layup to make the score 13-3. A minute later, Collinsworth recorded his first block that led to an outlet pass from Haws to Anson Winder for an open layup. Winder finished with five points, one assist and one steal.

With 7:26 remaining in the half, a good defensive effort from Skyler Halford and Worthington led to a steal and an easy layup for Carlino to extend the lead to 30-16. Haws’ first 3-pointer of the game capped off a 9-0 run to lead 35-16. Mika got his first block of the season with 4:16 remaining. Winder made his first 3-pointer at the 4:30 mark, which was followed by Carlino’s 3-pointer to give BYU a 44-33 lead at the half.

Haws led the team with 14 points and 8 rebounds, while Carlino added 11 points and four assists of his own at the half.

Mika scored the first two points in the second half, followed by a chase-down block that led a Carlino three-point play on the break to push BYU's advantage to 49-40. A 15-1 run by BYU included a strong move to the basket by Collinsworth, and a Carlino jumper to cap the run at the 13-minute mark to extend the lead to 61-41.

Weber State went on an 8-0 run to cut the deficit 61-49, but was answered by a 6-0 run by the Cougars, which included a backdoor pass from Mika to Haws and a baseline jumper by Nate Austin. Austin finished with two points and eight rebounds. Haws scored six-straight points including a baseline dunk and a chance at a three-point play to extend the lead 75-61 with 5:02 remaining. Carlino capped another 6-0 run with a drive to the rim with 3:19 remaining. The Cougars held onto the 81-72 win despite a second 8-0 run by the Wildcats to end the game.

"We gathered the defensive rebounds and then took off," Rose said. "We didn't make the right play every time. We overdribbled at times and got to the rim and left a lot of points on the floor, but I really like the energy and the focus. The mental preparation coming out tonight was really good for a young group."

The Cougars will hit the road for the ESPN Tip-Off Marathon at Stanford on Monday at 8 p.m. PST. The game will be televised live on ESPN2 and broadcast on the Cougar IMG Sports Network on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM.

Game Notes: BYU vs. Weber State

BYU men's basketball will open the 2013-14 season against Weber State on Friday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. MST in the Marriott Center. The game will be televised live on BYUtv and broadcast live on the Cougar IMG Sports Network on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM.

BYU Cougars (0-0, 0-0 WCC)

• Head Coach: Dave Rose
• Alma Mater: Houston, 1983
• Career Record: 209-66 (9th)
• Record at BYU: Same

Weber State Wildcats (0-0, 0-0 Big Sky)

• Head Coach: Randy Rahe
• Alma Mater: Buena Vista, 1982
• Career Record: 150-75 (8th)
• Record at Weber State: Same

Series Information

• Series Record: BYU leads 28-10
• Last Meeting: BYU won 78-68 in Provo, 12/15/12
• H/A/N: 19-0/9-10/0-0

Game Information

• TV: BYUtv
• TV Talent: Spencer Linton (play-by-play), David Nixon (analysts), Lauren Francom (reporter)
• Live Video: www.BYUtvsports.com
• Radio: Cougar IMG Sports Network, KSL 102.7 FM / 1160 AM, BYU Radio - Sirius XM 143
• Radio Talent: Greg Wrubell (play-by-play), Mark Durrant (analyst)
• Live Audio/Stats: BYUcougars.com

BYU storylines

• In 2013-14, BYU basketball will be looking to extend its program record streaks of eight-consecutive trips to the postseason and eight-straight 20-win seasons. Last year, the Cougars finished 24-12 and advanced to the semifinals of the NIT.
• BYU returns preseason All-American junior guard Tyler Haws, who led the WCC in scoring and was seventh in the nation at 21.7 points per game last season. Haws is only the second Cougar to reach 1,000 career points as a sophomore.
• Sophmore guard Kyle Collinsworth returns from a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Russia. He started 27 games on BYU’s 2010-11 team that advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.

Dave Rose

BYU head coach Dave Rose has led BYU to its most successful eight-year run since taking over in 2005. His career record of 209-66 ranks him second in BYU history in total victories and first in winning percentage (.760). Rose has been named conference coach of the year three times, district coach of the year twice, led the Cougars to four conference titles, six NCAA Tournament appearances, two NIT appearances, six 25-win seasons and eight 20-win seasons. In 2010, he led BYU to its first NCAA Tournament win in 17 years and the Cougars have also won at least one postseason game in the three seasons since, including a spot in the Sweet 16 in 2011 and a trip to the NIT semifinals in 2013.

Return of Kyle Collinsworth

The 2013-14 season marks the return of sophomore guard Kyle Collinsworth, who spent the last two years serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Russia. As a freshman in 2010-11 he averaged 5.8 points and 5.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 steals while shooting .481 from the field. Collinsworth started 27 games on a BYU team that won a team record 32 games and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 2011 NCAA Tournament.

Record streaks

The Cougars will be looking to keep several program-record streaks intact during 2013-14. Coming into the season,  Dave Rose has led the Cougars to eight-straight 20-win seasons and eight-straight postseason appearances, eight-straight seasons with 10-plus conference victories and four-straight seasons with a postseason victory.

Nonconference schedule

BYU’s nonconference slate includes three in-state games, matchups with Big 12 and Pac-12 foes and trips to Kansas City and Springfield, Mass. In all, the Cougars will play six home games, three road games and four neutral site games during the nonconference season. After opening the season at home with Weber State, BYU will play at Pac-12 foe Stanford in the opener of the sixth-annual ESPN Tip-Off Marathon. The Cougars will also play in the College Basketball Experience Hall of Fame Classic with two games at home and two in Kansas City against Texas and either DePaul or Wichita State. BYU will also host Iowa State, North Texas and Prairie View A&M, play Utah State at EnergySolutions Arena, vs. UMass in Springfield, Mass., and at Utah and Oregon.

BYU’s newcomers

This season’s roster includes five newcomers – three freshmen, a junior college transfer and an NCAA Division I transfer. The freshmen are Frank Bartley IV from Baton Rouge, La., Eric Mika from Alpine, Utah, and Luke Worthington from Mequon, Wis. Skyler Halford comes to BYU from Salt Lake Community College and Chase Fischer is a transfer from Wake Forest.

• Bartley prepped last season at Future College Prep in California last season and averaged 19.7 points, 8.5 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 3.3 steals and 1.0 blocks while leading his team to the West Coast Prep title.
• Mika earned third-team All-America honors last season while leading Lone Peak to the MaxPreps.com national title and the 5A Utah state title. He averaged 16.4 points, 11.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocks.
• Worthington averaged 13.6 points and 10.0 rebounds while leading Homestead High School to a 13-7 record. He was named first-team All-North Shore Conference and all-state honorable mention.
• Halford was a first-team NJCAA All-American and averaged 17.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.6 steals at SLCC. He led SLCC to the SWAC and Region 18 titles.
• Fischer played two season at Wake Forest after a successful prep career at Ripley High in Ripley, W.Va. He averaged 4.5 points and 1.1 rebounds and shot .422 from three last season.

Rose in season and home openers

Under Dave Rose, BYU basketball is 5-3 in season openers and 7-1 in home openers. After dropping his first two season openers in 2005 and 2006, Rose led BYU to four-straight season-opening wins before falling 69-62 at Utah State in 2011-12. Last year, BYU defeated Tennessee State 81-66 in the season/home opener. Rose lost his first home opener (also the season opener in 2005) but has since won the last six home openers.

Rose vs. the state

BYU basketball coach Dave Rose has compiled a record of 27-6 vs. in-state opponents since taking over in 2005-06. He has the best winning percentage (.818) of any coach vs. in-state teams during that time and is tied for the most wins (Utah State’s Stew Morrill is 27-9 vs. in-state teams since 2005-06 for a .750 winning percentage). BYU hosts Weber State on Nov. 8 to open the season, plays Utah State at EnergySolutions Arena on Nov. 30 and visits Utah on Dec. 14.