Notes and Quotes - Weber State

Notes

Tyler Haws scored 28 points and pulled down 13 rebounds for his first double-double since his freshman year against UTEP on Jan. 9, 2010. In that game he scored 20 and grabbed 11 boards. Haws' 13 rebounds is a career high. He had games with 11 rebounds twice in his freshman year. Haws also topped his seventh-in-the-nation scoring average of 21.7. He scored 20+ points for the seventh straight game dating back to last season.

Kyle Collinsworth also earned a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds — almost the exact line as his last and only other double-double against Creighton on Dec. 1, 2010 when he scored 12 and pulled down 10 boards. Collinsworth filled up his stat line Friday night with six assists, a block and a steal.

Matt Carlino nearly doubled his scoring average of last season with 22 points in the opener. He scored 20+ points in five games last season. Carlino also increased his career assist average by dishing out six.

Eric Mika scored seven points, grabbed five rebounds, made two assists and tied for the second most blocks in a debut by a freshman with three. Russell Larson also had three blocks in 1991 and Shawn Bradley owns the record with five in 1990.

Mika was the first freshman to start in a season opener since redshirt freshman Trent Plaisted started against Loyola Marymount in 2005. Mika is the first true freshman since Mark Bigelow started against Wofford in the 1998 opener.

The other newcomers all had similar debuts. Skyler Halford, Luke Worthington and Frank Bartley IV each scored two points. Worthington added a rebound.

Haws and Carlino reached double figure points in the first half. Haws only needed 13:44 to get to double digits, while Carlino took 17:11. Collinsworth reached double figures in scoring at the 13:40 mark of the second half. Haws grabbed his 10th rebound at the 16:04 mark in the second half and Collinsworth snuck his 10th rebound in with 13 seconds left in the game.

Haws, Carlino and Collinsworth each played 35 or more minutes, while no other Cougar played more than 26. Worthington, Halford, Mika, Nate Austin and Anson Winder each played more than 10 minutes.

BYU head coach Dave Rose extended his winning streak in home openers to seven games and now owns a 28-6 record against in-state opponents and a 9-0 record against Weber State. It was also his third straight season opening win.

Season Firsts

Field Goal: Matt Carlino jump shot with 19:21 in first half

3-pointer: Tyler Haws 6:16 left in first half

Free Throw: Haws 18:17 left in first half as part of old-fashioned three-point play

Steal: Anson Winder 13:41 left in first half

Block: Kyle Collinsworth 13:31 left in first half

Drew a charge: Eric Mika 10:23 left in first half

Defensive Rebound: Nate Austin 19:42 left in first half

Offensive Rebound: Haws 14:57 left in first half

Foul: Haws 16:42 left in first half

Substitute: Luke Worthington 17:16 left in first half

Quotes

BYU head coach Dave Rose
“I’m pretty excited about that win. 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.”

“We gathered the defensive rebounds and then took off. 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.”

“There were very few times that Weber State got us on our heels. One example is they really had us reeling the last four minutes of the first half. But for the most part, we were the aggressor and that is a good sign for a team just learning how to play together.”

“Kyle’s line was terrific. He was 11 and 10 in his first game back. I mean what a warrior. His ability to guard multiple positions will really help us and it helped us tonight.”

“I was pleased with our defensive effort. 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.”

Eric Mika
On playing his first regular season game

“I think this game was comparable to the first exhibition game and just the next step. I kind of got winded a little bit in the beginning. This is the biggest stage I’ve played on and it kind of took me by surprise. Hopefully I can bounce back like I did from the first exhibition game to the second and play better on Monday.”

Tyler Haws
“You have to give Weber State some credit. They made plays and they have players that can make big shots. It felt like we would get to 15 and just couldn’t get over that hump.”

“One of our keys to the game was to attack. Coach Rose always talks about attacking and so we wanted to be the aggressor coming out of the gates.”

On attacking the basket more this game

“When we get into ball screen situations that is where our team is good. When we’re sharing the ball in the dribble-drive and handoff that’s when we get good looks. There’s a few things we need to clean up, but I think we’re headed in the right direction.”

Weber State head coach Randy Rahe
“That’s a really good basketball team we played tonight. They have four top 100 recruits in the starting line up and you can see why they are top 100 recruits. They are really good, really skilled, really strong, and a lot of older kids, and they played mature basketball tonight."

"Coach Rose does a heck of a job with them. It's a well coached team. But I was really proud those first 10 minutes of the game. I thought our kids were really nervous. We had some guys in that situation for the first time. This is as tough an environment as we might be in all year to be honest with you.

"I was really proud of our kids. I thought we fought. I thought we stayed together. I thought we showed some signs that we got a chance to be a pretty good basketball team.