BYU at Utah: Game Notes & Quotes

BYU at Utah

March 3, 2010

Huntsman Center (Salt Lake City, Utah)

Player Notes

— Brandon Davies scored 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and 7-of-11 from the line, adding 7 rebounds and 1 steal. The freshman’s points, field goals made, free throws made and free throws attempted were all career highs. Davies made his first seven shots from the field.

— Michael Loyd, Jr., had 18 points, 4 steals, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. All of Loyd’s points and steals came in the first half.

— Loyd scored 37 points in 33 minutes between the second half vs. New Mexico and the first half at Utah.

— Emery finished with 2 steals, earning multiple steals in 22 of 31 games.

— Emery has scored in double digits in eight-straight games, scoring 11 against the Utes.

— Tyler Haws has converted 32 free throws in a row. The freshman guard has been perfect from the line his last four games after hitting his last five against Colorado State, going 10-of-10 at Wyoming, 8-of-8 performance against SDSU, 5-of-5 against New Mexico and now 4-of-4 at Utah. Haws also had a previous streak of 20-straight earlier in the season. The mark is tied with Michael Smith for the second-longest streak ever at BYU.

Team Notes

— With the win, the BYU/Utah all-time season series is tied at 125-125. The Cougars have won seven of the last eight against Utah.

— Utah’s .269 field goal percentage is the lowest of any BYU opponent this season.

— BYU did not allow a single Utah player to score in double figures. No Ute starter made more than one field goal and no single player made more than two field goals.

— Five different Cougars helped BYU hit 11 of their first 11 free throws.

— BYU held Utah to 28.6% (6-of-21) shooting in the first half, the lowest of any MWC opponent the Cougars have faced this year and the lowest since BYU held Eastern Washington to 24.0%.

— BYU owns a 150-61 (.711) record as a ranked team. The Cougars are 22-9 (.710) under Coach Rose when ranked, including 13-3 (.813) this season.

Record Watch

— Jimmer Fredette has scored the fifth-most career points through his first three seasons of any player in BYU history with 1,380 points. Danny Ainge (1,685), Michael Smith (1,554), Kresimir Cosic (1,512) and Michael Smith (1,419) are the only players with more points through their first three seasons.

— BYU’s record of 27-4 is the best mark through 31 games in program history.

— Through 31 games, BYU is 245-of-591 (.415) from the three-point line, just trailing the 2007-08 team which converted a record 285-of-764 (.373) on the season and was 254-of-689 (.369) through 31 games.

— Jonathan Tavernari is the first Cougar to play in 100 wins in his BYU career and has been a part of 104 victories total.

— With 8 points at Utah, Jimmer Fredette has 1,380 career points, passing Trent Plaisted and Roland Minson for 15th all-time. Fredette is 9 points away from passing Andy Toolson for 14th all-time.

— With 2 steals at Utah, Jackson Emery is one steal away from tying Nate Call for fifth on the BYU career steals list.

Game Trends

— BYU held Utah to 1-of-10 shooting to start the game, taking a 13-4 lead in the game’s first seven minutes.

— BYU went on a 15-2 run in the first half to open up the game and take a 20-6 lead.

— The Cougars started the second half on a 12-0 run, holding Utah without a point the first 5:52 of the second half. Brandon Davies scored 10 of the 12 points. The run would also go to 17-2 over the first 7:05 of the second half.

— Utah went for a span of 12:21 without a field goal from the 4:59 mark of the first half to the 12:38 mark of the second half.

— The Utes shot 1-of-14 from the field to start the second half.

— BYU clinched the Deseret Duel team trophy after a season sweep of Utah. BYU has clinched the overall Duel title with a 37-10 lead.

— BYU's 71-51 win is its biggest in terms of margin of victory (+20) over Utah in the Hunstman Center's history.

BYU Head Coach Dave Rose

"You talk about a great team win. Late in the year you need help from a lot of different people and we got it tonight. It was a great performance from the bench, great performance from our starters."

"You talk about back-to-back halves. We really needed it. I felt like he had practiced really, really hard. When Mike went in and continued to play the way he was playing, it gave us more energy. Every time Brandon scored it gave us more energy and more excitement. "

"The first 32 minutes may have been our best defensively of the season. Then we were able to attack with penetration and get behind it to score some points."

On Brandon Davies: "I really have felt that the last 10 days or so he has been a different player in practice. He gave us great minutes against New Mexico and I probably should’ve played him more. Where he’s really good with this team is offensively in the post. If we can get that kind of offensive punch from our offensive players, that will really help us. Brandon was really fresh tonight and really scored the ball well for us."