BYU vs. Pepperdine Notes & Quotes

Player Notes

Haws finished with 20 points, six rebounds, an assist and a steal. His 20-point effort was the 38th of his career, which ties him with Kresimir Cosic for 5th in BYU history for career 20-point games.

Kyle Collinsworth

Collinsworth recorded his third double-double of the season. It was the third time this year he grabbed 10 or more rebounds and the 13 rebounds tied a season high. He finished with 11 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, five steals and two blocks. He led the team in rebounds, assists, steals and was tied for the lead in blocks.

Eric Mika

Mika totaled 10 points, seven rebounds and two blocks before fouling out with under a minute left.

Nate Austin

Austin scored four points, grabbed five rebounds and recorded a block before fouling out with under six minutes left.

Skyler Halford

Halford played the second most minutes of the season and scored 11 points in those 23 minutes. He also had two rebounds, two steals and an assist.

Team Notes

Carlino, Collinsworth, Haws, Austin and Mika started for the 11th straight game and 13th time this season. The Cougars are now 6-7 with that starting lineup.

Nine different Cougars scored in the first half, Luke Worthington was the only player who saw the floor who didn't net any points.

The Cougars had four different players score in double figures (Haws, Halford, Collinsworth, Mika).

BYU put together a 10-0 run to cut the lead to three at 65-62. Haws scored four points in the run, while Austin, Halford and Josh Sharp contributed two points each. The Cougar defense came up with two turnovers (a steal and a shot clock violation) during the run as well.

BYU was 23 seconds away from not making a 3-point field goal in a game for the first time since 1996 before Anson Winder buried a 3 to make it a four-point game.

The Cougars are now 1-5 on the road this season.

BYU did have six blocks, which tied a team season high.

Quotes from the Cougar IMG Sports Network Postgame Show

BYU head coach Dave Rose

"The guys did fight really hard to the end. We had a lot of opportunities and they were creating those opportunities with their aggressive play. Hopefully, we learned a lot in this game as far as just being able to make plays and finish. We got to the free throw line a few times and left some points there and continued to play through that which is a really good sign."

"We need more consistent good play from more players. We keep getting our big guys in foul trouble, so we're juggling those things back and forth. Those are all issues we need to get home and practice to get some confidence."

3-point shooting by Pepperdine:
"In the first half, we just didn't engage quick enough. We went underneath the screens. In the second half, he (Malcolm Brooks) made a couple tough ones. We were up there and pushed that thing pretty good and challenged it. Six of nine from 3 was the difference."

Nate Austin

"They were better than us again in the second half. We had our runs and they had their runs. I think we just dug ourselves too big a hole in the first half. In the second half, we came out and we were clicking and got the lead down to five and they made some 3s and got it back to 12. It seemed like they led between five and 12 the whole game. There were some missed free throws and some big shots by them at the end and they came out on top again."

Slow starts Saturday and tonight:
"Once we got down by 10 points, we were wondering if this is really happening again, some guys started losing confidence a little bit. At halftime, coach Rose got our spirits back and in the second half we looked like a team that was playing together that was believing in each other and trusting each other."

Second half defense:
"I think the difference in the second half was our intensity on defense. We started getting up on guys and almost dictating what Pepperdine was going to do. We got more steals, we got more hands on balls and we got more rebounds. We just did a lot better on the defensive end and that led to easy buckets in transition for us."