BYU vs. Creighton Postgame Notes and Quotes

PLAYER NOTES

Zac Seljaas started for the first time this season and scored 19 points, including a 5 of 6 mark from downtown. It was his 3rd game with 5-plus 3s, 2nd-most by a Cougar freshman. He hit multiple treys for his 8th consecutive game and it was his 10th game this year with at least 3 treys. He also reached double figures for the 12th time this season and 2nd consecutive game. Seljaas posted 7 rebounds to tie a career high.

Kyle Collinsworth came off the bench for the first time since his freshman year after battling the flu prior to the game. He played in his 139th game, tying Jimmer Fredette and Tyler Haws for 3rd-most in school history. He finished with 10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal. It was his 33rd game in double figures this season and 98th of his career.

Nick Emery finished with 17 points, including 2 treys to pass his brother, Jackson Emery, for the 4th most in a season at BYU with 94. He reached double figures for the 12th consecutive game and 31st time this season.

Chase Fischer scored 15 points to tie Terrell Lyday for 41st in school history with 1,105 career points. He also hit a 3-pointer to tie Mark Bigelow for 4th all-time with 213 triples at BYU.

Kyle Davis scored 18 points, his 28th game this season in double figures.

TEAM NOTES

With the win, BYU reaches the semifinals of the NIT for the 2nd-time under Dave Rose, the other time coming in 2013. The Cougars improve to 10-10 in the postseason under Rose, including 6-2 in the NIT.

The Cougars improved to 18-9 overall in the NIT and 11-1 at home in NIT play.

BYU started Nick Emery, Chase Fischer, Zac Seljaas, Kyle Davis and Corbin Kaufusi for the first time this season.

The Cougars hit 5 of 6 field goals to close the first half and went on a 7-0 run near the end of the half to go up 38-37 at the break.

BYU hit 7 of 9 from the field and went on a 12-1 run in under 3 minutes to build its biggest lead of the game at 67-52 with 9:32 remaining in the game.

Five players scored in double figures with Zac Seljaas (19), Kyle Davis (18), Nick Emery (17), Chase Fischer (15) and Kyle Collinsworth (10).

â€‹BYU head coach Dave Rose
"What an amazing crowd. My goodness. From the first tip, the feeling was tremendous. It was an interesting start to the game without Kyle [Collinsworth] in the lineup and we tried to stay with our original game plan because we didn't know how much he could give us. We came out pretty stagnant with that plan and they came out and made some good shots and we had to play from behind after that. We found a rhythm in the first half and the second half. Zac [Seljaas] had a great game, and we discovered Kyle could run the floor at point for us, so that gave us a lot of confidence for the second half. We were a lot better in the second half."

"I think what's fun for me as a coach and our whole staff about tonight is how Kyle has picked this team up so many times throughout this season and throughout his career. Tonight, these other guys picked him up tonight and helped him through to another game. It says a lot about the group, the camaraderie and the chemistry of this team."

On the seniors leaving the Marriott with a win:

"This was better than Senior night, that's for sure. There was great energy in the building that night, but tonight was just fun. I walked through the locker room after the game and saw those three seniors laughing and joking, excited for another game."

On the NIT:

"Every year, you want to get your team together and you want them to have a special experience. Everyone thinks of winning the NCAA tournament when I say that, but there are so many other experiences you can have to make a season special. This end of the year is similar to what this team has ben able to accomplish this year. They've been able to respond to disappointment and make the best of it. We've got a chance to finish this well and we hope we can."

BYU forward Kyle Davis
On Kyle Collinsworth being limited with illness:

“KC obviously is our best player. He’s our leader and the player of the year. We rallied around him. We tried to step up and do it for him. He’s done so much for us this season, so it was a good time to step up for him. And he still played so well for being sick.”

On slow start:

“I think we were just trying to find our groove without Kyle out there and running the offense a little bit differently. They’re a good defensive team, but once we started getting stops and playing our game, we were rolling.”

BYU guard Zac Seljaas

“With Kyle out, I had to step up. It was a big shoe to fill, having to start for Kyle, but it was a time to get in and get going. Kyle came in and helped out as much as he could.”

On going to New York for NIT semifinals:
“We are very excited. Most of us have never been there. We are excited to go play in the final four of the NIT, to keep playing. We had a disappointing loss in the [conference] tournament, and now we just want to keep going and make it as far as we can.”â€‹

Creighton head coach Greg McDermott:

"I’m extremely proud of our team. I told them at our Big East media day we were an afterthought and we were picked to finished 9th in our league and here we are and we were 6 points away from being in the NIT semifinals. I don’t think anyone expected that out of our program so I’m proud we’ve become relevant again because of their hard work. The experience of playing in this environment is really going to be good for us moving forward."

"We threw a lot of young players out there. That type of experience is going to be invaluable for them moving forward. We weren’t perfect tonight and we needed to be against a good BYU team. We were able to keep them in check for 15 minutes, but they got away from us those last five minutes in the first half."

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