BYU-Cleveland State postgame notes and quotes

The following notes are from BYU's 69-59 win over Cleveland State on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021, at the Marriott Center.

ALL-TIME SERIES RESULTS: BYU leads 1-0

TEAM NOTES

Cougars Lead Through First Half

BYU maintained a lead throughout the majority of the first half, only allowing Cleveland State to gain a brief lead at 11-9. The Cougars shot 13-of-26 from the field, 3-of-9 from 3-point range and 5-of-5 from the line, while Cleveland State shot 10-of-26 from the field, 1-of-5 from three and 6-of-7 from the line. Alex Barcello earned the most BYU buckets during the first half with nine, while Gideon George and Caleb Lohner each recorded four rebounds. BYU led 34-27 at the half, the Cougars’ largest lead of the half.

BYU Holds Onto Momentum in Second Half

BYU continued to hold the lead through a hard-fought second half with Cleveland State, keeping close and exchanging points. BYU shot 38.1 percent from the field, hitting 8-of-21 shots and 2-of-10 from three. Barcello hit back-to-back jumpers late in the game, allowing the Cougars  to cushion their lead and gain momentum. BYU’s defense held Cleveland State to a 3:40 scoring drought near the end of the game, with the Vikings missing all four shots during that time. The Cougars recorded 22 rebounds and three blocks and made 17-of-22 free throws in the second half.

No Free Throw Woes

The Cougars hit 22-of-27 for 81.5 percent of their free throws in the game. In addition to Barcello’s 13-of-13 free throw performance, each BYU player kept their free throw percentage above 50 percent.

Official Debuts From Three Players

Freshman Fousseyni Traore and transfers Te’Jon Lucas and Seneca Knight all made their official debuts with BYU in Tuesday’s game.  Traore showed his versatility with five points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Lucas also added five points and recorded three rebounds with three assists, while Knight added two points and had one block.

PLAYER NOTES

Barcello's Record-Setting Performance

Senior starter Barcello led the Cougars with 24 points, recording 5-of-6  from the field, 1-of-2 from the three and 13-of-13 on free throws. His free throw performance tonight puts him at 33 consecutive free throws without a miss, dating back to last season and giving him the fourth-longest streak in BYU history. The game was also the best free throw shooting performance since Chase Fischer went 14-14 from the line in 2016. Barcello also set a record for points to field goal attempts in a single game with his 24 points on six field goal attempts, overcoming the previous record set in 1993 by Robbie Reid, who had 23 points on six field goal attempts.

Fousseyni Traore’s BYU Debut

Freshman big man Traore came off the bench tonight leading the Cougars with three blocks and recording eight rebounds and five points in his collegiate debut. 

Spencer Johnson in Off the Bench

Coming in off the bench, Johnson gave the Cougars 13 points in 19 minutes of play, going 4-of-6 from the field and 2-of-3 from the 3-point line. Johnson’s back-to-back buckets in the first half helped to give the Cougars momentum moving forward.

Caleb Lohner 

Sophomore starter Caleb Lohner led the Cougars with nine rebounds on Tuesday night, just one away from his career high.

Notable career highs/career firsts

Career-high free throws: Alex Barcello 13-13, tied for sixth-best for single-game free throws without a miss

Career-high blocks: Fous Traore three blocks

COACH AND PLAYER QUOTES

Mark Pope

On Cleveland State

“They’re a championship team, that’s why we got them. They won their league tournament, plus they got every single player back and added two big time shooters to their roster. They believe they are going to step in and win every single game. They’re a super disruptive team, and so for all those reasons it was a huge win for us. I’m super happy and couldn't be more proud of our guys.”

“To take on one of the most disruptive teams in college basketball, a championship team with a pedigree. A great rebounding team up against the middle of our rotation with Caleb, Gideon and Seneca, and of course Gavin and Fousseyni, kind of a rebounding game there and it was a great match up.”

On Preparing for Rest of Season

“All I want to do is try to be as challenging as we can and get as good as we can as fast as we can. It’s not smart to schedule this game first. It’s not smart to schedule San Diego State second and it’s not smart to schedule Oregon third, but we’re going to do it, and it’s going to show us how we need to get better.”

“Unbelievable game, so glad we had it, I can say that because we won. It taught us a lot about what we can do right now and what we’re going to need to be able to do in the future.”

On Alex Barcello

“This Alex Barcello, he’s just a star. I mean he’s one of six returning All-Americans in the entire country, and he’s shown us over and over again that he’s got some moxie and some savvy and some juice out there on the floor.

On Turnovers

“The challenging thing for us is our bigs handle the ball so much and are huge decision makers, allowing more versatile scorers is actually having a chance to move away from the ball. That’s all fine and good until you play such a disruptive team where they’re pressuring everything and it’s hard to get into familiar actions, and especially with young bigs and can be super scary.”

“We had nine turnovers in the first half, that was a little nerve wracking, but to get away with only six in the second half, I was really pleased with that.”

On Spencer Johnson

“He is working so hard on protecting the ball and he’s playing at a pace that is really familiar to him. He had back-to-back buckets in the first half that were important and hit a couple huge threes. He’s also such a force to be reckoned with on the defensive end and he approaches the game like he wants to play more than anybody.”

On Defensive Finish

“I thought our guys did an excellent job of making Cleveland State play one-on-five, not one-on-one, and I thought our defensive effort was just off the charts down the stretch.”

On Traore’s Potential

“He’s really smart and he’s picking up things fast. He’s going to become a big-time player. Before the season I kind of said there could be some little shades of a Yoeli Childs type athlete, he’s going to be really exciting, he’s going to be a great player.”

On Gavin Baxter

“I’m super pleased with his 16 minutes. I thought he played great. He’s such a steading force on our team. I’ve got to keep him healthy, so his minutes will grow. I thought he did incredible tonight and hopefully his minutes will grow in the next game.”

On San Diego State Matchup

“I love this matchup. It was so devastating when we lost here two years ago and then such a rush when we got the win last year. It’s kind of like two Top 25 mid-major teams, and the fact that they’re so excited to place and we’re so excited to play them, it’s going to be good.”

“They’re good, and they’re physical and long and they’re just a problem. Every year we’ve played them we learn so much about our team and it’s given us the chance to get way better and it’s going to be an unbelievable matchup.”

Alex Barcello

On defensive play

“As a team we were thinking of stops. They’re a team that likes to drive and we found them in the mid-range area or at the rim or at the three point line. Coming out of the huddle in those last four minutes our main thing was we just needed to buckle down and get stops. That’s what our coaches preach to us every day: battle through frustration.”

On the team 

“I feel really thankful to have teammates who believe in me as a player, and I believe in them to the moon and back. We’re continuing to build our chemistry as a team and we’re not perfect as you saw tonight, but we are continuing to build that trust and I felt that from these guys tonight. We’ve got guys that are built for these big moments and it’s fun to play with guys that don’t shy away when it’s time to make a play.”

On Cleveland State 

They guarded us in a different way than we’ve seen and it was more difficult to get into our normal flow on the offensive side of the ball, but we just continued to push that second and third side on the offensive end. Cleveland State is a really good team, but we did a good job battling through.” 

On freshman Fousseyni Traore 

“Fouss just brings such positive energy every day, and he’s got such a high ceiling ahead of him. He comes to every practice so hungry to get better and it’s going to be fun to watch his career.”

On playing San Diego State 

“There’s some tension with San Diego State and it’s fun to play teams that are really talented because it shows us what we're made of and what we can improve on.:

Spencer Johnson

On his thoughts after making the game's key defensive play

“It was a great feeling. But yeah, just trying to take advantage of opportunities and doing what I can to help this team win. In that moment, it called for a defensive stop, kind of a little gut check. Super fun atmosphere and I’m just fortunate to be able to be on this team.”

On opening the season against an NCAA tournament team

“It's huge. We have a lot of new guys that have come in and are learning our system and learning how we do things. I think we responded beautifully. We fought through frustration and we hung in there and stayed with each other and that's what I was super happy about.”

On what he remembers from playing San Diego State last year

“I remember we got the win, and we’re looking to do it again this year. They're a good team. Their defensive scheme was really good. We kind of punched them in the mouth coming out and they tried to creep back on us, but we came out with a win in the end. It’s going to be a really fun one, plus we're going to have fans.”

On his 13 points tonight

“I just felt like I took what came to me. I didn't try to force anything. When the ball came my way, I just made a read, a shot, or a pass and was just fortunate to be able to score 13. More importantly, we came out with the win.”