BYU vs. Arizona Christian Postgame Notes

TEAM NOTES

The Cougars assisted on 29 of 39 made baskets. Five different players had at least four assists, led by Cooper Ainge’s seven dimes. Cory Calvert added five and Nick Emery, Zac Seljaas and Kyle Davis each had four.

BYU hit 18 3-pointers in the game (the BYU record is 17 – exhibition statistics do not count towards records), including 11 in the second half. Jake Toolson led the Cougars with six makes from downtown and Nick Emery and Cory Calvert hit four apiece. Jakob Hartsock, Cooper Ainge and Zac Seljaas each added one triple.

The game featured 18 lead changes, 16 coming in the first half. After going back in front with 18:41 to play, BYU never trailed again. Early in the second half, BYU went on an 18-0 run in just over a three-minute span from 16:48 to 13:54. Five different players scored and BYU hit four treys during the run.

Of BYU’s 103 points, 74 came from players who did not suit up for the Cougars in 2014-15: Emery (20), Hartsock (12), Calvert (12), Davis (9), Seljaas (8), Shaw (5), Ainge (4), Aytes (2), Hamson (2).

Every player who saw time on the floor for BYU got into the scoring column. BYU had four players score in double figures: Toolson (23), Emery (20), Calvert (12), Hartsock (12).

PLAYER NOTES

Jake Toolson led all scorers with 23 points, including six 3-pointers. He shot 8 of 11 from the field and 6 of 8 from downtown. He added six rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Nick Emery scored eight points in the first 4:33 of the game, including a pair of threes, finishing with 15 in the first half and 20 for the game. He made four treys and posted four assists, three rebounds and one steal.

Jakob Hartsock started 5 for 5 from the field and finished with 12 points.

Cory Calvert added 12 points coming on four triples.

Kyle Davis posted nine points, six rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal. Late in the first half Davis blocked a 3-point attempt and finished the play with a two-handed slam inside of one minute until halftime. 

QUOTES

Head coach Dave Rose

"I'm really pleased with how we competed as a team. I think the first half was so different than the second half. A lot of that was our guys settled down a little bit better defensively. I think we shared the ball well in the first half. We got a little erratic and turned the ball over a few times.

"With a young team a lot of those guys with their experience level and their first time in a college game or starting a college game, we had a hard time getting set defensively. At halftime I told the guys what was happening to us in the first half is really what I like us to do to other teams in that you never really get yourself in a set defensively, so you're kind of scrambling all the time." 

"The second half we did better getting the ball under control and getting in the gaps. Our ball screen defense was much better in the second half. We continued to share the ball and get opportunity baskets." 

"We shot the ball pretty well from three. All in all it was good to get guys out on the floor. It was a nice crowd and good atmosphere. It felt good in there for the guys, so hopefully we can get some of these other guys healthy and have a good week of practice and see what happens next Saturday." 

G Jake Toolson:

"We started off a little bit slow on defense. We knew that [ACU] was going to attack us. At times they went small and created matchup problems. We feel like we handle what we can do and everything else will work itself out." 

"We have a lot of young guys on the team who had the opportunity to be out there for the first time in a real game. I was really happy with the way we responded in the second half. We could feel that we were over-thinking things in the first half. We dug down and started getting stops in the second half, which led to easy buckets."

On playing without some starters:
"We knew coming in that Chase, Kyle, Corbin and Chatman weren’t going to play. We needed guys to step up, which we had for the most part. It just shows that this team is deep. The next man up can step up. I was happy with how we played. If we can play like that without our leaders and our captiains, we will be in pretty good shape for when they come back."

On sharing the ball:
"We have that confidence among everyone on the team. We know that when it’s our time, we will make it. When it’s your time to be on, you jump up there and stick the shot. We will pass up a good shot for a great shot."

F Jakob Hartsock:

"In the second half, we played our game. We just started playing tougher defense and giving it all we have. Personally, it was a little different than high school. Coach has so much confidence in all of his players. He tells us everyday that we are great, and we believe it. We have the confidence to go out there and play our game."