PROVO -- BYU shot 71 percent in the first half, including 6-7 from three-point range, to build a big lead and beat the Rice Owls 95-56 Saturday night in front of 13,323 fans in the home opener.
The win runs the Cougars record to 4-0, which is the best start since the 1991-92 team that started the season 7-0. BYU also extended the nation's longest home winning streak to 37 games.
"On rare occasions you have a night like this. On those nights all the shots drop and the game looks easy," said BYU head coach Steve Cleveland. "We gave a great effort tonight, there's no question about that."
BYU went on an 18-1 run to end a 16-16 tie with 12 minutes to go in the first half. Luiz Lemes picked off a Rice pass and took it the distance for the layup. The bucket was Lemes' first points of the season. On the next trip down, Lemes buried the first trey of his BYU career.
Center Jared Jensen scored the next seven points for BYU, stretching the lead to 13 with 7:26 to go in the half. A Kevin Woodberry steal and layup, followed by a Rafael Araujo jam brought the crowd to its feet and extended the BYU lead to 34-17.
Mark Bigelow added two three-pointers and Woodberry ended the first 20 minutes with a half-court shot that banked in to give BYU a 56-29 lead going into the lockeroom.
Rice never recovered from the halftime deficit, and BYU won by its largest margin since beating Elon College on November 21, 2000. The Cougars won that game 100-63.
Bigelow led all scorers with 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting. Three other Cougars scored in double figures. Jensen finished with 18, just two points shy of his career high. Point guards Woodberry and Terry Nashif each chipped in 10 points.
Rice was led in scoring by Michael Harris with 11 points and Omar-Seli Mance with 10. The Owls only shot 33 percent from the floor for the game. BYU has held three of its four opponents this season below 35 percent shooting. The loss drops Rice to 2-2 this year while extending its road losing streak to 12 games dating back to last year.
BYU heads back on the road next week for games at Arizona State and Creighton.
"We will get tested next week against two very good teams," Cleveland said.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
RICE vs BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars
11/30/02 7:05 pm at Marriott Center, Provo, UT
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VISITORS: RICE 2-2
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
33 HARRIS, Michael..... f 4-6 0-0 3-3 1 3 4 1 11 0 2 0 0 17
42 DIENE, Yamar........ f 1-5 0-0 3-5 3 4 7 4 5 0 5 2 1 27
00 MANCE, Omar-Seli.... g 2-6 0-4 6-6 2 2 4 2 10 3 3 0 1 26
32 SMITH, Rashid....... g 3-6 2-3 0-0 0 0 0 4 8 1 0 0 0 25
34 MCKRIETH, Jason..... g 2-5 1-2 0-0 1 1 2 1 5 3 4 0 1 19
01 GILLESPIE, Brock.... 0-4 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 12
04 EVANS, Brandon...... 0-3 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 2 2 1 1 0 2 20
11 WALTON, Michael..... 0-0 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 0 2 0 2 0 0 9
12 KOLLIK, Christian... 1-4 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 2 2 0 1 0 0 4
14 HARRISON, J R....... 1-4 0-2 0-0 0 4 4 1 2 0 2 0 0 14
20 SPOTTS, Alex........ 0-3 0-2 1-2 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 6
24 MOORE, Jamaal....... 4-8 0-0 0-2 1 0 1 4 8 0 3 0 2 21
TEAM................ 4 1 5
Totals.............. 18-54 3-16 17-22 14 17 31 22 56 8 24 2 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-27 37.0% 2nd Half: 8-27 29.6% Game: 33.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-8 25.0% 2nd Half: 1-8 12.5% Game: 18.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-8 87.5% 2nd Half: 10-14 71.4% Game: 77.3% 0
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HOME TEAM: BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars 4-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
02 HANSEN, Travis...... * 3-7 1-1 2-2 2 2 4 2 9 4 1 1 1 21
03 BIGELOW, Mark....... * 7-10 2-4 3-4 0 1 1 2 19 2 0 0 0 22
24 WOODBERRY, Kevin.... * 3-6 2-2 2-2 0 2 2 1 10 0 2 1 3 19
52 JENSEN, Jared....... * 6-6 0-0 6-8 1 4 5 1 18 0 1 0 1 18
55 ARAUJO, Rafael...... * 3-4 0-0 0-0 1 7 8 4 6 3 3 0 3 25
04 LEMES, Luiz......... 3-4 1-2 0-2 0 2 2 0 7 2 1 0 1 20
10 NASHIF, Terry....... 2-4 0-1 6-6 0 5 5 1 10 5 1 0 2 19
14 BOWER, Ricky........ 1-3 0-1 1-1 0 0 0 2 3 0 1 0 0 17
15 ALLEN, John......... 0-2 0-1 2-2 1 2 3 4 2 1 2 0 0 17
32 JEPSEN, Bart........ 3-3 1-1 0-0 1 1 2 1 7 0 1 0 1 12
40 HOWARD, Dan......... 2-4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 4 0 1 1 0 10
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 33-53 7-13 22-27 8 27 35 19 95 17 14 3 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 22-31 71.0% 2nd Half: 11-22 50.0% Game: 62.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-7 85.7% 2nd Half: 1-6 16.7% Game: 53.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-8 75.0% 2nd Half: 16-19 84.2% Game: 81.5% 0
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Officials: Bill Gracey, Bobby McRoy, Kelly Self
Technical fouls: RICE-None. BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars-None.
Attendance: 13323
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
RICE.......................... 29 27 - 56
BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars......... 56 39 - 95
Points in the paint-RICE 8,BY 26. Points off turnovers-RICE 10,BY 30.
2nd chance points-RICE 13,BY 8. Fast break points-RICE 0,BY 0.
Bench points-RICE 17,BY 33. Score tied-5 times. Lead changes-4 times.