BYU vs. UVU Postgame Notes

Team Notes

BYU collected 68 rebounds, the most in a single-game under head coach Dave Rose. The 68 boards are ninth all-time in school history and the most since 1967’s 70 against Santa Clara. The mark set the record for a BYU team in the Marriott Center. The previous BYU record in the Marriott Center was 67, set on March 6, 1976, against Wyoming.

The Cougars had four players in double figures. Chase Fischer led the scoring with 20 while Kyle Collinsworth and Kyle Davis each added 17. Nick Emery scored 10 points.

BYU went on an 18-0 run over 5:56 in the first half to build a 22-2 lead. UVU was 1 of 16 to start the game before breaking up the run with 9:52 left in the first half.

BYU improves to 8-3 in season openers under head coach Dave Rose, winning its fourth consecutive opener. The 31-point win is the second-largest margin of victory in a season opener under Rose (40, 74-34 vs. Long Beach State, 2007-08). The Cougars are 10-1 in home openers under Rose, have won the home opener in each of the last 10 seasons.

Player Notes

Kyle Davis recorded his first career double-double as a Cougar in his first game with 17 points and 20 rebounds. He posted 11 points and 13 rebounds in the first half, collecting 10 of the boards in the first 10 minutes. He outrebounded UVU 10-9 through the first 10 minutes. He had his double-double with 4:19 to go in the first half. The 20 rebounds set the school record for rebounds in a season opener and mark the 27th time a player has grabbed 20 boards in a game for the Cougars. With 18 defensive rebounds, Davis set the school record, surpassing Brandon Davies with 16 in 2011 vs. San Diego.

Chase Fischer dropped 15 points in the first half, including two treys and finished the game with 20. It is the seventh time in his career he has scored 20 points.

Nick Emery scored his first official collegiate points at the 12:51 mark in the first half on a midrange jumper and finished as BYU’s fourth player in double-digits with 10 points. He added four rebounds and three assists.

Kyle Collinsworth picked up where he left off last season with 17 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, one block and one steal. It was the 66th time in his career he scored in double figures.

Zac Seljaas scored his first collegiate basket with a trey at the 7:48 mark. Jordan Chatman got his first at the 5:38 mark on a jumper in the paint and Jakob Hartsock on the following possession on a layup. Braiden Shaw got in the scoring column for the first time with a pair of free throws inside of three minutes to go.

BYU head coach Dave Rose

“I think that just the whole atmosphere and gym tonight was tremendous for our home opener. We had a great crowd. I think we anticipated that there would be a lot of energy and excitement when we got started, and there was. It was a well-played game and a hard-fought game. I’m obviously happy about the win. We have a quick turnaround at Long Beach State on Monday, a late start. We had some guys that really stepped up and played well. Kyle Davis’ night was terrific. Twenty rebounds in a game is a number I think a lot of guys shoot for, but very seldom does it happen. I’m excited about the win and look forward to practice tomorrow.”

On Kyle Davis’ rebounding abilities:
“I think that’s a big part of who he is. We saw it in the trip to Spain and last year in practice. When you’re playing on the scout team, you don’t get a real look at a game situation, but you could tell even then that he could track down the ball well. There were a lot of misses tonight, which gave us a lot of opportunities to rebound, but the bottom line is that his timing is good. He’s not a high-flyer, but he’s in good position. Hopefully we can count on eight to 12 rebounds from him.”

On the high rebound total:
“I think that there were two things that led to that number. I think they had seven offensive rebounds in the night. They were really determined to get four guys back to stop our transition offense. On the miss, we actually had an advantage. We actually had three to four guys to their one. I think we contested shots pretty well. We had a couple of guys we zeroed in defensively. We wanted to make sure that every shot was a tough shot, and I think that’s what kind of led to it. I liked our concentration, our intensity and our focus on the defensive end.”

How rebounding tonight could affect the team:
“You hope that you kind of build a culture on a team that those kind of numbers and stats become contagious. Those hustle stats where guys are competing, like rebound, steals and turnovers. Those are individual numbers that you can strive for that will really help your team.”

On assistant coach Quincy Lewis:
“Quincy has fit in really well. One of the most important things is how you come in and relate to the players. Obviously, he knows a few of them because he coached them in high school. It was easy for him. His success brings him instant credibility. He gets along really well with the guys, and the transition has been seamless.”

Challenges of the Long Beach State game:
“When we play a Monday night game, our biggest issue is that our practice time is limited. We will practice tomorrow and review a little bit of film. We will go down there and have a little bit of a shoot around late Saturday night.”

On Jamal Aytes:
“I’m hoping Jamal gets back within the next week. I’d love to have him play in both games next week, but I hope for one of them.”

On Kyle Collinsworth:
“He was really aggressive tonight. I love the energy and effort. He played hard and left a lot out there tonight. He scored in so many different ways. Corbin took a basket away form him, and somewhere down the line, he’ll have to repay Kyle. His energy spread throughout the team, which is what a good leader will do.”

Excitement around basketball season:
“I remember when I first got here, I was told that basketball season starts after the bowl game. I think over the years, our fans have come to appreciate the early November games. I think we’ve sold a lot of those seats. Obviously, we had a great walk-up crowd tonight. Hopefully tonight is a good sign for things to come.”

BYU forward Kyle Davis

On finally playing after sitting out:
"It was just a lot of fun being able to be out there with the guys. When you sit out for 18 months you just have to sit there and watch them have all the fun. It was nice to be out there."

On personal rebounding performance:
"Rebounding is something that I feel is the best part of my game. So I try to just go for every rebound and see what happens. I had a feeling that I was getting a lot."

On the defense’s performance:
"Quincy Lewis has done a great job. We’ve really bought in to these defensive principles. I think today we proved to ourselves that we can get up in the line, we could be where we need to be and play individual and team defense. This is going to be a big springboard for us moving forward."

On carrying momentum to the next game:
"For me, I am just going to go out there and play as hard as I can and try to have fun. It’s a great thing to be able to play college basketball. Its fun to play in an environment like this. I just want to go out there and play hard and have fun and be there for my teammates. For me, what gets me going is rebounding. If I feel like I can get that going, everything in the game starts to flow for me. That’s something that I can control. I can’t really control whether or not shots go in or anything else, but I can control my effort to collect rebounds."

On team rebounding effort:
"I think we just have tenacious guys who want to clear the glass. We’ve got big guys between Kyle, Nate, Corbin and myself that will go in and chase rebounds hard and physically. I think this is something that we can continue to do and hopefully we can play good enough defense to cause missed shots and just go and collect those defensive rebounds and snag some of those offensive rebounds as well."

BYU guard Chase Fischer

On starting the game fast:
"I think we really prepared well for this one, which we always do because we’ve got a great coaching staff. I think all the guys bought in, we did what we knew we had to do. I think for us it starts with defense and coach Qunicy Lewis has brought a great mindset to this team. I think we know we’re going to score and which shots we’re going to shoot. I think we limited [UVU] on their offensive end and came out with a lot of intensity on defense."

On the emotions of playing against familiar faces:
"I think it was a little harder for our coaches. It’s a little different for them since they’re in the coaching realm. For us it kind of broke the ice for me personally. I love coach Pope to death and I love Cody Fueger and we said hi to him before the game. I think it was an icebreaker. When the game started we’re all business. It's tough playing old coaches but we set those emotions aside and played well."

On the new arena atmosphere:
"It was awesome. It was a great atmosphere. I think the upgrades to the Marriott are awesome. I’m still getting used to being on the opposite side. It’s an awesome place to play. The pre-game with the lights and everything our student section does is awesome. I think it did nothing but help an area that’s already one of the best in the country. It’s a big advantage for us because it’s tough going in with 20,000 fans rooting against you. It’s a big time home court advantage."

UVU head coach Mark Pope

“I’m not sure there was a ton we were excited about out there. Our nerves slowed us down a little bit. The ball stopped moving and it got lethargic. We lost to the gravity of the game. This is obviously a really good BYU team. They’re really good. They doubled us up on the glass, which I’ve never actually seen before. I’ve never seen 70 rebounds in a game. We have to fix our issues on the glass and we have to play with more pace and feeling. We will figure it out.”

“This is a great place and I love the people here. I can’t say enough about it. But we want to come win here. We are obviously a long way from that. We have a lot of work ahead of us. I have a lot of faith in these players. I love coaching them. They are terrific young men. And they are fighting a really limited roster, but we are going to get some real meat out of this season.”

“It’s surprising how small this basketball world is. A lot of times you are playing against guys you know and love. It’s usually not as intimate of a relationship as I have with these guys and Coach Rose. When you’re in these games, you’re usually pretty locked in on how to get your guys to perform better, fix errors and keep them focused. We are trying to come compete.”

“We have to hold up our end of the bargain by playing better, and we will. When we do, this will be a really, really fun series. It will be something this valley rallies around and it will be something really special. We just have a ton of ground to make up, which we will do really fast. It will be fun. This isn’t BYU’s end all beat all, and it isn’t ours either. We aren’t going to inhibit each other from getting into the tournament. But this is fun and it will be really, really good basketball soon.”