BYU vs. Princeton Notes & Quotes

Player Notes

TJ Haws was the first freshman to start in a season opener and in his BYU debut since Eric Mika started in the 2013-14 season opener against Weber State on Nov. 8, 2013. Prior to Mika, the last true freshman to start in his BYU debut was Mark Bigelow, who started against Wofford on Nov. 13, 1998, in his debut and the 1998-99 season opener.
Eric Mika's 26 points and 18 rebounds gave him his sixth double-double as a Cougar. He had five as a freshman in 2013-14.
Mika made his first 11 free-throw attempts. Had he not missed his 12th attempt, he would have broken the BYU record for most free-throw attempts without a miss in a season opener.
Mika tied the all-time BYU record for offensive rebounds in a game with nine. He was already the active leader for offensive rebounds in a game, with seven against Utah on Dec. 14, 2013.
Nick Emery led the Cougars with four assists. BYU is now 5-0 when Emery leads the team in assists.
With 20 points, TJ Haws is the fourth player in program history with 20-plus points in his debut (Mike Rose, Shawn Bradley, Russell Larson).
Four players – Haws, L.J. Rose, Yoeli Childs and Elijah Bryant played at least 15 minutes in their first appearances for the Cougars.

Team Notes

BYU improved to 11-1 in home openers and 9-3 in season openers under coach Dave Rose.
The Cougars improved to a 5-0 overall series record against the Tigers.

Quotes

BYU head coach Dave Rose

"It was a dog fight on every possession. That’s a very good basketball team we played tonight, and a win that will be a good one for us in January and in March. Hats off to Princeton. They’ll win a lot of games."

"We played a lot of guys that haven’t played at all for our program this season. The result was really positive for our staff—the way they played aggressively and together."

On the mentality of his young players:
"When the game gets tight, young guys tend to want to do more personally, play harder and do the work themselves. What they really need to do is play together in those situations. We saw some of both tonight."

On how Eric Mika has grown:
"Where Eric has grown the most is in his confidence. No one is tougher on Eric than Eric. He played calmly, and aggressively and was very effective for us."

On what he saw from Yoeli Childs in his first game:
"Yoeli played some fantastic minutes. For him to block some shots, rebound, run the floor and finish at the rim. He did all that, and was able to stay out of foul trouble, which was great to see."

On TJ Haws' in-game adjustments:
"I think TJ was just wound up. He committed to play here about five years ago, so he was trying to do everything a little faster than he usually does. He sat on the bench for a couple minutes and was able to see the game from a different perspective. When he came back in, it was different."

Nick Emery

"Princeton was a really good team. I think they are one of the best teams I’ve seen come through the Marriott Center. They are tough, they are resilient, they don’t ever give up, and they play really good basketball. To get that win, just for us, is a huge confidence boost. It shows the toughness we’ve learned over the summer, and hopefully we can take that into further games."

On being able to maintain the lead:
"I think that is what makes or breaks a team. When they are scoring points, it is hard because their bench is getting into it, the guys are getting into it, and to put a stop to that is huge for our guys. Everyone has been talking about how defensively we can’t defend the ball, and I think tonight we showed we are willing to work hard and get stops in the defensive end."

On TJ Haws' debut:
"TJ was a stud. That guy’s got a lot of confidence. Wherever you put him, he’s going to perform. We are proud of him. He hit some big shots in big moments."

Eric Mika

On being back:
"I wanted to throw up until a minute before the game, so it’s about the same as before. But it felt good. It’s awesome playing in front of that many people that are that happy to be out here, supporting us, and they definitely deserve credit, the crowd, especially the student section. They were loud and they got us going. Princeton had some chances to tighten that lead that we had on them or even take the lead, but we definitely fed off the energy of the crowd."

On attacking the Princeton defense:
"Another key of the game for us was to attack together. That’s what we did in the first half. They were in foul trouble pretty quick, and that’s definitely helpful for us because we have that momentum going, we have that mentality to keep attacking. On the other hand, it’s tough for a team to be in foul trouble from the beginning, obviously. So, it was good for us, bad for them, I thought we just did a good job of executing that attack."

Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson

"I knew this was going to be a really good team. We had prepared for Mika, Emery and Haws, but all three of them hurt us. We got close when the score was 63-62 and I thought that would be a good turning point for us, but every time we came close, they had a good answer for us."

"I was really happy with the way we approached the game this evening. I thought our guys were ready to go. We did not play well, but we continued to fight and shoot the ball. We’re a team and I felt like we made good plays in moments. But for us to be good, we must be very balanced."

"We are going to continue to play guys like Mika and I thought that we made him take some tough shots, but then we didn’t get the rebound. Our shot selection was questionable at times and we just need to make shots if we are going to win on the road. We didn’t excessively turn the ball over, and I was happy with our low turnover rate. We are a team and in order for us to be at our best, we need to have everyone playing for each other."