BYU vs. Prairie View A&M Notes

Player Notes

Haws made the first five field goals for BYU to start the game. He scored all 19 of his points in the first half. Those 19 points set a new first half season high in scoring. He also set a season-high with four 3-pointers made.

His consecutive made free throw streak came to an end on his first attempt of the game.His 30 straight made free throws gave him the fifth longest streak in BYU history, trailing his record 50 consecutive made free throws by 20.

Haws also passed Trent Plaisted for 20th in career scoring and sits two points behind Andy Toolson for 19th. Haws also tied Gary Trost for 13th on the career free throws made list.

Matt Carlino

Carlino finished with seven points, seven assists and four steals. He passed Fred Roberts for 10th in career assists at BYU. Carlino trails Matt Montague by one for 11th all-time in career steals.

Kyle Collinsworth

Collinsworth set a career high in points for the second time in the last three games as he scored 19 points against the Panthers. It was his third straight game scoring in double figures. He finished with six rebounds, three assists and two blocks. The two blocks tied a season high. He tied a career high with five free throws made and eight attempts.

Eric Mika

Mika scored in double figures for the 10th straight game. He finished with 15 points, six rebounds, one block and an assist. Mika set career highs with seven free throws made and 11 attempts from the line. He did all that while playing his fewest minutes of the season with 18.

Frank Bartley IV

Bartley had one of everything, totaling five points, four rebounds, six assists, a block and a steal. Bartley tripled his career high in assists jumping from the two he had against Texas to the six he had on Wedneday night.

Nate Austin

Austin set a career high in steals and tied his career high in assist with four of each. Austin finished with eight points and 11 rebounds.

Anson Winder

Winder scored 11 points, breaking double digits for the first time in the last seven games.His 11 points were all scored in the second half, the most he's scored in a second half this season. He also played 16 minutes off the bench, which is the most since the Iowa State game. Winder totaled 11 points, three rebounds, one assist and a steal.

Josh Sharp

Sharp came off the bench and scored four points in quick succession. He finished with four points and two rebounds. His four points are a season high.

Team Notes

BYU head coach Dave Rose started Carlino, Collinsworth, Haws, Austin and Mika for the seventh straight game and ninth time all season. That starting lineup is now 6-3 this year.

After many games where BYU's front line was in early foul trouble, the Cougars didn't commit a foul for the first 12 minutes of the first half.

BYU shot 71.4 percent from behind the 3-point line. That is the highest team percentage since the Cougars shot 83 percent against Texas. The 10 made 3-pointers is tied for the most made 3-point attempts with the Texas game. Winder, Johnston and Bartley were all perfect from behind the line, while Haws was 4 of 6.

Eleven of the 12 players who saw the court scored points on Wednesday night. Haws, Collinsworth, Mika and Winder scored in double figures. Sharp and Collinsworth set season and career highs, while Andrew Johnston made his first field goal, a 3-pointer, as a Cougar.

The Cougars assisted on 27 of the 35 field goals on Wednesday night. They beat their season average of 17 by 10 and set a team season-high, beating the Mount St. Mary's game by one. Five players totaled three or more assists. Carlino had seven, Bartley six, Austin four and Halford and Collinsworth each had three.

Quotes

BYU head coach Dave Rose

Opening statement:

I thought our players came out with a real focus tonight and the way we played defensively, that was a real improvement from the other night. The most encouraging thing is that it has come from the guys. These guys know what we need to do as a team to become a better team and I thought we really improved tonight.

I thought tonight we really eliminated their easy baskets. Offensively, we shared the ball really well. Twenty-seven assists is a good number for our team. I thought we played 40 minutes of pretty good execution on both ends of the floor and that's a good sign coming off a tough game on Saturday.

What made the defense better tonight?

I think that a lot of times when you travel and deal with the things that are a little bit new or uncomfortable that you can get distracted. The main thing is that you get this feel when all five guys are executing your defensive plan on the majority of your defensive possessions. I think tonight we were really good at that.

On the number of guys who got dinged up tonight:

It's one of those games where there were a lot of 50-50 balls and we were going after them. This is a real physical team and I think that our guys do a pretty good job of competing and tonight we did really well there as a group.

Update on Tyler Haws who played sparingly in the second half:

He took a pretty good lick and he feels okay and we'll see how he feels in the morning. We're optimistic that he will be alright. He spends a lot of time trying to stretch his abdominal area and as far as pain, I think he is over that.

On Tyler taking over early in the game:

I think our guys found him and we were really sharing the ball early and he got to spots where he was open. When Tyler can get into spots, he feels good. He was extra special tonight because he made four or five in a row to start things off tonight.

What do you have to do to share the ball against tougher teams in the future?

I think that offensively, we have been pretty consistent. There are games, with the way that teams play us, that you will see a lot of dribble penetration. Tonight they packed it in pretty tight and the perimeter was pretty open. I think it's more with how the ball is moved is determined by the opponent and what their game plan against us is. Tonight, I thought our guys responded well to the game plan that Prairie View had and got a lot of guys involved early and we had a lot of guys play well late. I thought for a game like this, our guys really stayed together and we competed together well.

Anson Winder

What did the team do defensively to shut down Prairie View?

"We set a goal today at the shootaround to hold them to a certain amount of points and I think we were able to do that as a team and we were able to guard them the way we wanted to guard them."

On the minutes in the second half and getting his shot going:

"It felt good. My teammates were finding me and I was able to hit some shots and knock them down. It was fun to get to get out there and play and we all played well as a team."

On getting 27 assists on 35 baskets tonight:

"I think that is our style of play. We've always had the mentality of sharing the ball and it just so happened that this game we have a few more than we usually do. That's always been our mentality to find the open man and find your open teammate and that is what we have been doing."

Nate Austin

How much emphasis was placed on defense the last three days?

"After giving up 106 points to UMass, we spent a lot of time on defense both individually and as a team and taking pride in getting stops. Even when we were up by 20 points, we were focusing on getting stops."

On the mentality to get double digit rebounds:

"I think it's every game going in with a mindset of getting 10-plus rebounds every game. It's a goal I have and a way that I can help this team succeed. Tonight was just another night of coming in with that mindset of that was what I was going to do. This game I was trying to come in with a little different mindset, especially on defense, that the other team was only going to get one shot. I think as a team if we have that mindset and if we give the effort on defense and try to hold our opponents to one shot; each game we can get better and better."

On improving on defense when the shot clock is winding down:

"Last year it was an emphasis and coming into this year it was an emphasis as the shot clock does wind down to improve. Last year, we were one of the worst teams in the nation that when the shot clock was withing 5 or 10 seconds to give up a basket. So this year we had a focus that when the shot clock is under the 10 seconds that as a team we're really buckling down and focusing on getting a stop and securing that rebound."

Prairie View A&M head coach Byron Rimm II

"It was a terrible game from our standpoint. BYU shot the heck out of the ball. We went out with our hands down. We didn't do a good job of containing. We didn't talk on defense. We were shell shocked the whole game and it showed."

"We have a lot of work to do if we want to play at the level of BYU. They did a good job. They're a great basketball team."