BYU vs. Saint Mary's Postgame Notes and Quotes

PLAYER NOTES

Kyle Collinsworth finished with 17 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. It was his his 87thcareer game in double-figure scoring and 22nd this season. With 17 points, Collinsworth upped his total to 1,504 career points, moving into 16th place at BYU. He is the only player in the NCAA in the last 20 years with at least 1,500 career points, 900 career rebounds and 600 career assists. He also started his 118th game to tie Danny Ainge for No. 7 in BYU history.

Bronson Kaufusi had 7 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks. All of his points and blocks came in the second half along with 6 of his rebounds.

Chase Fischer hit four 3s as part of his 19 points. He also extended his streak to 13 consecutive games with a trey. It was his 32nd game with at least three 3-pointers for his career and 18th this season, second-most in Cougar history. He also scored in double figures for the 18th time this season and 39th time in his career.

Zac Seljaas hit his 44th 3-pointer of the year to tie Mark Bigelow for second most by a freshman at BYU.

Nate Austin played in his 140th game to claim sole possession of second all-time at BYU. His next game will tie Charles Abouo for the career lead at BYU.

Nick Emery has hit a triple in 21 straight games, tying Terell Lyday for the third-longest streak in school history.

Jakob Hartsock made his first career start. He also hit a 3-pointer for the fourth consecutive game.

TEAM NOTES

Dave Rose started Kyle Collinsworth, Chase Fischer, Nick Emery, Jakob Hartsock and Kyle Davis for the first time this season. It is the fourth different lineup Rose has used this season.

The Cougars improve to 12-8 all-time against Saint Mary’s and 5-6 under Rose.

BYU is now 4-7 when trailing at the half this season and 41-63 under Rose.

BYU’s win over No. 25 Saint Mary’s was the first win over a ranked team at home since beating No. 25/22 Gonzaga, February 20, 2014.

BYU led in the game for over 28 minutes at 28:02 to Saint Mary’s leading for 9:15. BYU took the lead with 13:51 remaining in the game and never gave it up again.

The Cougars have won 11 consecutive games at home this season and 17 overall dating back to last season.

BYU went on an 8-0 run in just under two minutes of time to build up a 60-48 lead with 7:46 remaining.

The Cougars held Saint Mary’s scoreless for the final 3:32 of the game and the Gaels missed their final 8 shots.

BYU head coach Dave Rose
“I thought it was a great night. It was a good crowd and I think it was a really good game from both teams. I thought it was a pretty well executed game. In the first half, they were really efficient, and I thought that we were a step slow defensively on a couple of plays. I think we had six or seven turnovers at halftime, and we have won a couple of games where we had that many turnovers at halftime. But in a game with limited possessions, that was a lot of turnovers. I thought in the second half we were much better. We were a little bit quicker to the ball and a little more active with our hands. Our big guys played really well, especially defensively. We were able to win the game late and hang on.”

On holding Saint Mary’s to a low shooting percentage:
“I think that the key for us was to make them uncomfortable. You can see when they get in that rhythm and they are pushing the ball and moving it. They got us a couple of times late in the second half with Hermanson hitting two threes late in the clock. That’s them and that’s what they love to do. I think we got them a little bit out of the catch and shoot rhythm and made them put the ball on the floor. We were also fortunate because they missed a couple of shots but we were able to rebound which was a big key for us.”

On rebounding and getting out in transition:
“I think that's one of the things that makes us good is that we can get defensive rebounds and then we can have an advantage in transition. Kyle [Collinsworth] made some really good plays and made some layups. Nick made a really good play to a layup as well against a team that is really hard to score on. Those are really big plays.”

BYU forward Corbin Kaufusi:
On the defensive effort in the second half:
“I think at halftime, the coaches wanted us to play with a lot more energy. In the first half we weren’t making shots and it’s easy to get down and not play with energy on defense, and defense is all about energy. So to come out in the second half and get that little boost helped a lot.”

On rebounding:
“I think that is always a point of emphasis. As we’ve seen in the statistics, whenever we are able to out rebound a team, our percentage of winning just skyrockets. So that’s something that we are always trying to focus on every game.”

BYU guard Chase Fischer:
On the defensive effort:
“A lot of our defense was just effort plays. Corbin, Nate and Kyle [Collinsworth] made a lot of effort plays. I think when we went to our zone it kind of caused some problems and took them out of their ball screen offense. They missed a couple shots that they usually make, but it was an impressive defensive effort on our part when those shots didn’t fall.”

On home court advantage:
“The Marriott Center has always been a place where we can come and if we are in a rough stretch we know we are going to get a win. I think a lot of our schedule early in the season was on the road. We spent a lot of days in Hawaii and we started out conference on the road. It feels good to be back here. Our fans are amazing and this is one of the best places to play in the country.”

Saint Mary's head coach Randy Bennett
“We played well in the first half, and in the second half we didn't play very well. Those are my overall thoughts.”

On pace of the game:
“I wouldn't say we focused on (slowing down the pace of the game). We've just got to take them out of transition. The game changed when they got some steals in transition. Otherwise, we were in pretty good shape.”

On rebounding:
“We've got to get better. They're good on the boards anyhow, but we're pathetic on the boards right now.”

On Kyle Collinsworth:
“He's a good player. They post him a lot. He can create problems. Having all those shooters around him makes it tough. Those three guards are a handful. That's not really what beat us tonight. Well, I guess Collinsworth did get those steals, but they beat us up on the boards. We gave them easy baskets. I don't think it was any one guy - although Fischer got them off to a good start.”

Takeaways of road performance going forward:
“I just told the guys you've got to play two halves. We didn't play the second half. We scored 22 points in the second half. That's not good enough. We can have all the excuses in the world, but the bottom line is we got beat on the boards bad. I thought we played descent defensively, other than when we turned it over and gave them layups - and when they got offensive boards. Other than that, I think we did a pretty good job on Emery, on Fischer after the first 10 minutes. We've just got beat up on the boards and that just can't happen.”