BYU vs. UT Arlington Facebook Album

BYU vs. UT Arlington Box Score

BYU vs. UT Arlington Postgame Notes/Quotes

PROVO, Utah – Despite a career-night from Dalton Nixon, BYU men’s basketball fell 89-75 to UT Arlington Saturday night at the Marriott Center.

“UT Arlington is a great team,” BYU head coach Dave Rose said. “They were prepared for us. I thought we were in really good shape and ready to go, but they just out-executed us. We had a tough time making shots, especially in the first half. We will learn from it. This was a good test for us.”

Nixon led the Cougars with a career-high 15 points to go with a career-high eight boards. Elijah Bryant added 15 points while Yoeli Childs and TJ Haws contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively. Haws also collected a career-high eight assists.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Bryant and Haws propelled BYU to an early 8-2 lead in the first half. UT Arlington quickly rallied, however, to even the score at 10-all following a long-distance trey from the Mavericks’ Erick Neal.

UT Arlington then went on a 9-2 run to take a 19-15 advantage with just under 10 minutes to play in the half.

The streak continued for the Mavericks as they went up 32-17 during more than a five-minute Cougar scoring drought.

A Childs put-back dunk brought BYU back within 12, trailing 37-25, and a three-point play from Bryant kept the Cougars within striking distance to end the half with BYU down 43-28.

Four different Maverick players scored to start the second half as they took a 54-34 advantage, forcing a Cougar timeout at the 15:31 mark.

Zac Seljaas hit a 3-pointer, set up by Haws, which was followed by a Childs dunk to help pace BYU, trailing 67-44.

The Cougars struggled with fouls, in addition to high-percentage shots by UT Arlington, as a dunk extended the Mavericks’ advantage to 25, 75-50.

BYU followed that up with a 6-0 run, with shots by Jahshire Hardnett, Childs and Nixon, to get back within 19, 75-56.

A pair of Payton Dastrup 3-pointers in the closing minutes made it 86-75, but it wasn’t enough as the Mavericks picked up the 89-75 win.

The Cougars stay home at the Marriott Center for their next game, facing Niagara Tuesday, Nov. 21, at 7 p.m. MST. The game will be broadcast live on BYUtv, BYU Radio – Sirius XM 143 and KSL 102.7 FM/1160 AM. Links to streaming feeds and live stats can be found on the BYU men’s basketball schedule page.

BYU Game Notes

Coming off a tough road win at Princeton, BYU returns to the Marriott Center to host UT Arlington Saturday at 7:30 p.m. MST. Saturday's game will be televised live on BYUtv and broadcast live on the BYU Sports Network on BYU Radio – Sirius XM 143 and 102.7 FM/1160 AM.

BYU Storylines

• Junior Elijah Bryant has scored 20-plus points in back-to-back games for the first time in his BYU career. Against Mississippi Valley State in the season opener, Bryant had 27 points on 10 of 11 shooting. At Princeton, Bryant totaled 22 points while hitting 6 of 12 from the field and 9 of 10 at the free-throw line.
• TJ Haws and Zac Seljaas are riding streaks of consecutive games with a 3-point field goal, both dating back to their freshman seasons. Haws has hit a 3 in 18-straight games, tied for the 10th-longest streak in BYU history. Seljaas had drained a trey in 12-straight games.
• Through two games BYU opponents are averaging 58.5 points and shooting 37.6 percent from the field. The Cougars are averaging 8.0 blocks, including 4.0 per game from Yoeli Childs, and 5.5 steals per game.