BYU vs. Pepperdine postgame notes and quotes

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Postgame Notes

Player Notes

  • Tyler Haws finished with 24 points to lead all players for his 11th 20-point performance this season and 4th consecutive.
  • Also in double figures against Pepperdine were Brandon Davies and Matt Carlino with 19 and 13 points, respectively. Davies has now had double-figure points in every game this season, but one, and Carlino has scored in double digits on 6 different occasions. 
  • Brock Zylstra finished with a career-high 6 assists and 5 points.
  • Tyler Haws reached double digit points with 3:48 left in the first half on a jumper to cut Pepperdine’s lead to five at 28-23. 
  • Brandon Davies reached double digit points at the 17:11 mark in the second half with a jumper to cut Pepperdine’s lead to three at 37-34.
  • Matt Carlino reached double digit points at the 9:15 mark of the second half with a layup to extend BYU’s lead to 14 points at 54-40. 

Team Notes

  • Dave Rose started Brandon Davies, Tyler Haws, Josh Sharp, Brock Zylstra and Matt Carlino tonight for the fifth-straight game. The Cougars are now 8-2 with that starting lineup.
  • Dunks tonight came from Brandon Davies with 17:42 and 1.5 seconds left in the first half and Nate Austin with 3:46 to play in the second half 
  • Of the six games the Cougars have trailed at the half this season, the 5-point halftime deficit against Pepperdine is the smallest. In those six games where BYU has trailed, they’ve now made 3 comebacks – Pepperdine, Utah and USF. 
  • The Cougars are now 3-0 in conference play for the first time since the 2010-11 season in the MWC when BYU started league action winning 6-straight games.
  • BYU finished with 6 turnovers against the Waves. The last time the team had 6 or fewer turnovers was on Jan. 11, 2011 against Utah when they committed just 5. 
  • BYU finished the night with 13 steals, 10 of them coming in the second half, to tie for second-most this season. BYU had its season-high 15 against NAU and 13 against LMU earlier this year. 
  • BYU outscored the Waves 46-16 in the second half for its largest scoring margin in a half this season and the fewest points allowed in a single half this season. 

Game Trends

  • Matt Carlino hit the first 3-pointer for BYU after just a minute of action to give the Cougars an early 3-2 lead. 
  • Between 4:33 and 2:51 in the first half, Tyler Haws scored all 7 of BYU’s points to cut Pepperdine’s lead to four, 30-26. 
  • Between 15:52 and 11:16 in the second half, BYU went on a 12-0 run to take its first lead since the 15:51 mark of the first half, up 7, 46-39. 

Postgame Quotes

BYU head coach Dave Rose
“I thought Pepperdine had a great game plan coming into the game. They were really physical around the basket, and it made it difficult for us to score at the rim. They did a great job in transition and we couldn’t do anything in transition. So it was very difficult for us to score. I really felt like their game plan was good.” 

“They spread us out and Baker had a great first half, but the second half we were better. I thought we were a lot more active defensively. We contested passes. We contested shots and dribbles. After the first few minutes, we were finally able to find a way to score. Big win, and I look forward to our game on Saturday.”

Matt Carlino
“Coach showed us at the end of the game we only gave up 16 points in the second half. I think the difference was our focus. I think we came out flat at the beginning, but the second half was a different story. In the second half we didn’t let Baker get the easy buckets he got in the first half, so I feel that was the difference.”

Craig Cusick
“I think the outcome of the game was a result of our defense. When we get defensive stops that allows us to run the floor and do what we want to do. The last two games we allowed teams to get up on us in the beginning. There are a lot of great teams we are going to play the rest of the season, and we can’t do that in the upcoming games. So we are going to fix that.”

Pepperdine head coach Marty Wilson
“[BYU] made a great adjustment. Coach Rose and their staff made a great adjustment. They had trouble guarding Jordan Baker in the first half, him getting 20 points and just creating plays. In the second half they doubled him off the ball screens. They just doubled him anytime he got it and dared our other guys to make a play. We couldn’t score for a while.” 

“We stuck to our game plan. We did a great job defensively with them in the first half and obviously in the second half we just let it get away from us.”