BYU at LMU Postgame Notes and Quotes

PLAYER NOTES

Kyle Collinsworth extended his own NCAA record with his 10th career triple double with 10 points, 13 rebounds and a career-best 15 assists – one off the BYU single-game assist record.

Collinsworth’s 15 assists give him 579 career assists to pass Matt Montegue (570) for the most in school history. It was also his 14th career game with 10 or more assists. He also posted 5 steals, his 32nd career game with at least 3 steals, 2nd all-time behind Jackson Emery’s 39 games. The 5 steals also moved him into the No. 2 spot in career steals with 199, passing Danny Ainge (195).

Chase Fischer knocked down 5 triples, including a string of 4 straight. He passed Mike Rose (163) for 5th all-time at BYU with 167 made 3s. He has 30 career games with at least 3 made 3-pointers and 13 this season (tied for 9th most in a season with Jimmer Fredette in the 2009-10 season).

Nate Austin played in his 136th career game, No. 4 in Cougar history. He set a new season high with 9 points and set a season high with 3 steals.

Nick Emery led BYU in scoring with 24 points and hit 4 triples. Emery had 4 3-pointers for his 10th game of at least 3 triples in a game this year. He built on his own freshman BYU record with 49 made 3s this season. He scored at least 20 points for the 7th time this season, the 5th most among BYU freshman. His 24 points were the most since 27 earlier this year vs. Belmont.

Zac Seljaas hit 4 3-pointers to move him into 4th among freshman at BYU with 42 makes, passing Matt Carlino (41). It was his 7th game this season with at least 3 made treys, tied with Matt Carlino for second among freshman at BYU.

Kyle Davis posted his 8th double-double of the year with 14 points and 13 rebounds. He added two blocks.

TEAM NOTES

Dave Rose started Kyle Collinsworth, Nick Emery, Chase Fischer, Kyle Davis and Nate Austin for the ninth consecutive game. They improved to 7-2 with that starting lineup.

BYU trailed at halftime for the third consecutive game and ninth time this season, improving to 3-6 when trailing at the half in 2015-16.

The Cougars posted a season-high 28 assists on 32 makes from the field. 

A 20-0 run for LMU put BYU down 46-31 while BYU turned it over on five consecutive possessions. BYU went 0 for 10 from the field during the run and finally broke the LMU scoring streak with a triple from Zac Seljaas after a seven-minute scoreless streak.

BYU regained the lead in the second half with a 23-11 in the first seven minutes to go up 63-61. Emery had 11 during the run and went 3 of 3 from downtown.

BYU pulled away with a 13-1 run in the closing five minutes, holding LMU scoreless for 4:32 until the Lions broke up the run at the free throw line with 37 seconds remaining. 

BYU Head Coach Dave Rose

“The first half the way they were shooting the ball, you won’t watch many college games and see that. It was amazing. A couple of them we were late, the first few were on us. That was amazing you look up at the board and they are shooting 80, 90 percent from the field.”

"It’s a good win for our guys. We left a lot here. Hopefully we can recover and we’ve got a huge game in Malibu on Saturday but I am happy for them today. Tonight we were in a bad spot and able to come out of it. We were able to keep a real intense, fanatic pace in the second half the entire time. We tried to use our bench a little bit in the second half but there just wasn’t time for that. Then you look at the end of the game and three or four guys played huge minutes. Hopefully we can recover quickly and get back on track Saturday.”

On being up 5 and then quickly down 15:
“We turned the ball over five or six times and were stuck on 31 forever. They made some big shots and had a huge dunk and the crowd was loud and had it going. We called a timeout and got the guys huddled up. The most important thing there is you’ve got to keep your composure and try to break into it.”

“We went into halftime obviously disappointed and upset but we were on a roll and on a positive momentum swing to cut into that 15-point lead.”

On finishing:
“When we got this lead it was really important we could finish and get our guys in a positive mind. The best part would be to not get behind and be in front the whole time. You can never really predict how these things are going to go and if you get yourself into that situation it’s good to now we can get out of it.”

BYU guard Kyle Collinsworth

“It was a battle but we showed up in the second half and never game up and kept fighting.”

On the halftime adjustments:
“For me, I wanted to pick up the defense. I was able to make a few steals and big plays and get off in transition. Guys like Chase, Nick and Zac were able to space the floor and hit some big shots for us. The defense stepped up and we made some switches.”

On being down 15, 20-0 run against team:
“Something this offseason I have worked on is staying in the present. The shot would go up and I turn and it would go right through the net just over and over again. I kept thinking just stay in present, just keep battling and keep fighting. Every possession matters. With that kind of mindset you can come back from those kind of deficits. I just turned and every possession matters. Our whole team was like that and we buckled in every possession and we are able to catch up and take the lead and keep it.”