BYU at Portland Postgame Notes

BYU at Portland Box Score

BYU at Portland Game Recap

Player Notes

Elijah Bryant netted a career-best 39 points, including seven 3-pointers. His 39 are the most by a Cougar this year or any other player in the West Coast Conference. He had 22 points in the first half – also the most by a BYU player in the first half this season. Bryant also tied a career high with six assists and had five rebounds.

Braiden Shaw picked up the first start of his career. He grabbed a career-best 11 rebounds and scored four points to go along with two assists.

Nick Emery scored 16 points, reaching double digits for the 18th time this season. He also posted three steals for the seventh time this season.

Eric Mika reached 19 points to score in double figures for the 31st consecutive game. He added eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block.

Steven Beo tied a career best with 12 points off the bench. He posted three rebounds and one steal.

Team Notes

Dave Rose started a lineup of TJ Haws, Nick Emery, Elijah Bryant, Braiden Shaw and Eric Mika for the first time this season.

BYU won its 20th game this season, making it 12 consecutive seasons for BYU and Coach Rose with at least 20 wins. Entering the game, the streak was tied for 12th all-time in NCAA history. It also extends a program record.

The Cougars drained 13 triples to set a new season high, topping the previous mark of 10 set against Valparaiso and Pacific.

BYU’s 51 first-half points tied for the second-most in a first half this season for the Cougars.

Head coach Dave Rose

“It was really a great effort from our guys. We had a lot of things we had to overcome, besides personnel issues with Yoeli not playing and TJ getting in foul trouble. The week was hard. It was really hard on our guys. We weren’t really crisp and we were kind of down. We talked about it in pregame and I felt like these guys would come out and compete. I didn’t know if we would come out and compete individually or compete together. That’s what I am the happiest with. These guys were as good as we’ve been together tonight for a really long time.”

“They were good. Braiden was a great addition. He came in and set great screens and had great angles. He got our guys in good positions with the way Portland guards and what they do. He got us some good open shots.”

“Elijah got hot to start and TJ was on attack and Eric was on attack. We shared the ball well. Steven Beo came in and gave us great minutes, Jamal gave us great minutes and Davin was as aggressive as ever. He fouled out in only 11 minutes but he played good competitive minutes for us. I think we have a lot of guys feeling a lot better than we were 24 or 48 hours ago. Hopefully we can go in Saturday and compete together as a group like we did here tonight.” 

Guard Elijah Bryant

“The biggest thing for me in this game was to keep on focusing on staying in the moment. That allowed me not to have any anxiety or any pressure. I was just playing in the moment and making the right passes. My teammates were also making the right passes which allowed me to have this type of game.”

“I am always super confident in my shot but it has been hard coming off of an injury this year. I noticed that I wasn’t jumping as high on my shot so I have been working extra on my shot, trying to put a little more arc on it. I finally was able to find the sweet spot where I need to shoot it. I’ve had to make adjustments and put extra time in the gym and finally had a game.”