The following are postgame notes and quotes following BYU's 85-72 win at TCU Saturday night in Fort Worth, Texas.
POSTGAME NOTES
BYU at TCU
Feb. 10, 2007
- For the 13th time this season and the 10th straight game, Austin Ainge, Jimmy Balderson, Lee Cummard, Keena Young and Trent Plaisted received the starting nod from BYU head coach Dave Rose. Cummard and Young have started in all 25 games this season while Plaisted has started 24, Balderson 22 and Ainge 17.
- Individual Career Highs: Lee Cummard - 7 field goals made (tied), 3 blocks (tied).
- Team Season Highs: .615 shooting (32-of-52).
- With the 85-72 win at TCU, the Cougars improved to 9-2 in the Mountain West Conference, maintaining their first-place standing. BYU is alone atop the conference leader board in the second half of league play for the first time ever in the MWC.
- BYU has now won its last six straight games, coming just one win off their longest winning streak of the season.
- After losing five of their first six true road games this season, BYU has now won its last four games away from the Marriott Center, compiling a 5-5 road record. The Cougars are 4-2 on the road in conference play, the only team in the MWC with three road wins. With two games away from the Marriott Center left on the schedule (at SDSU, at Air Force), BYU has a chance to post a winning road record for the first time since 2002-03 when the Cougars went 6-5 overall on the road. Last season, BYU was 6-8 overall and 4-4 away from the Marriott Center.
- The Cougars have shot above 50 percent in their last five road games and in six of their last seven games overall, including a season-high .615 (32-for-52) mark against the Horned Frogs. BYU has also shot above 40 percent from three-point range in 10 of its last 12 games, with a .455 (5-for-11) mark at TCU
- BYU is now 18-3 when scoring at least 70 points and 4-6 when allowing opponents to reach the 70-point threshold. The Cougars have scored at least 80 points nine times this season, going 9-0 in those games.
- With a 30-25 rebounding advantage against the Horned Frogs, the Cougars are now 18-0 when winning the battle of the boards.
- With a 41-29 advantage at the break, the Cougars enjoyed their 19th halftime lead of the season and their ninth in double figures, including a 48-25 first-half lead in the first meeting between the two teams. BYU has held opponents under 30 first-half points 14 times this year while topping the 40-point mark six times. Overall, the Cougars are 17-2 when leading at the break, 2-3 when trailing and 0-1 when tied this season.
- BYU's .567 (17-for-30) first-half shooting mark marked the fifth of six MWC road games in which the Cougars have shot at least 50 percent in the first period of play.
- Three Cougars scored in double figures at TCU, led by Keena Young's 23 points. BYU is 8-2 when led by Young and 9-3 when three players score in double figures. The Cougars are also 16-5 when Young scores in double figures, 12-3 when Trent Plaisted scores in double digits (11 points) and 9-2 when Lee Cummard reaches double digits (16 points).
- With 23 points at Wyoming, Young has now scored in double figures in 21 of 25 games this season including seven outings -- and three of the last four -- with at least 20 points. Young is averaging 21.0 points per game over the last four games.
- Cummard has now shot 19-for-22 (.864) in his last five games, including a 7-for-9 (.778) mark at TCU. Cummard made 11 straight shots during his recent hot shooting streak and is shooting .570 on the year.
POSTGAME QUOTES
BYU Head Coach Dave Rose
"I'm really proud of our guys. This is a tough team to play against, especially here in this building. They get so many runs going. All the games that have been played in here have been close."
"We recognized the defense they were in and spread the ball and took good shots. We shot well and played at a good pace. Anytime you shoot 60 percent, especially on the road, is a great night."
"I think that our three senior captains have done a great job of having the players understand that the team is the most important thing. Austin (Ainge), Keena (Young) and Jimmy (Balderson) all have different strengths and different roles on this team; they've all done a great job of helping everyone."
"We're getting some great play off our bench. A lot of guys are coming in and doing a great job, which really helps our starters. This is a team game, and you get strength from your teammates when you play well."
"TCU was attacking Trent (Plaisted) intentionally with Langford and Hackett. It was unfortunate for Trent because he had to come out with fouls, but it was really good for us to get other guys in there and have them play and perform and get confidence."
"Vuk Ivanovic and Gavin MacGregor have been real solid for us. Vuk is doing well offensively, and Gavin gives us a bigger presence. Late in the game, when we had the lead, we opted to go with Gavin because of his strength and his ability to go out a little from the basket."
"Right now, offensively, Keena (Young) is really, really consistent for us. I really think as good as Keena is, the fact that he's got Trent in that other post with guys that have to stay on him is really opening a lot of opportunities for Keena. Other teammates are doing a good job of giving him the ball where he can really operate and do a lot of good things."
"I think we've played well on the road all year. Obviously, we're winning games now. We had a couple games against really good teams that shook our confidence a little bit and were a little unlucky in some of the other ones, but I think we've played well. We've been pretty consistent, and now we've got confidence."
"Lee (Cummard) made some huge plays for us, but that's what we've come to expect from Lee. When you see his lines after the game with points, rebounds, blocks, assists, steals, those are all things that really, really help your team. He's taking good shots. He plays at a really good pace, shares the ball really well and is a great team player. He has a great future in the couple years he's got left here."
"The BYU fans that come out here are great. They've been a big part of the success we've had here. It's not often that you can get into a building on the road in your league and have an advantage with the crowd. They were loud, and they were good."
"New Mexico is a team that's much improved. They're playing a lot better than the last time we saw them. They're a real perimeter-oriented team with really good shooters. J.R. Giddens wasn't as involved when we last played them as he is right now. We'll have a big challenge in that team. Hopefully we'll get a good crowd and get the energy going."
BYU Sophomore Guard Lee Cummard
"It's nice to have a solid game. I love to play this game. I like to give it all I have when I'm out on the court."
"I'm happy to come on the road and get a win. Earlier in the year, nobody counted on us to win on the road, and now people are finally talking about us winning on the road. It's especially nice for some of the guys who are from here -- Keena (Young), Trent (Plaisted) and Mike (Rose) -- to play here and get a win."
"The BYU crowd here was great. At one point in the game, I heard a BYU chant going on that was way louder than any TCU fans. It was good to come in here and see so many BYU fans cheering us on."
"We executed really well tonight. We had a few little mistakes, but we rebounded well, which we wanted to do. We wanted to play tough and have fun, and we did that. We also wanted to contain Langford and Hackett, and I think we did an okay job of doing that."
"It's amazing how things work out when you just work hard and have fun. We're playing so well together right now. We've got confidence in the big guys, and the big guys have confidence in the perimeter guys. We're just having a lot of fun."
"Not many teams in the country have as much depth as we do. We're all skilled players, and we all want to come out here and play together and have fun. When your name is called, you just go out there and do what you can."
The NCAA Tournament has been the goal the whole year, not only to get in but to win some games. We're looking forward to playing hard the next couple games and hopefully hear our name called on that Sunday."
"A Conference championship has also been a goal all year long. That would be a blessing and would add on to the things we've already accomplished so far."
"It's going to be good to go home and play in front of our fans. It's so much fun to play in front of the Cougar fans in Provo. It's just a blast."
TCU Head Coach Neil Dougherty
"Lee Cummard can change a game with his defensive presence. Good basketball teams can do certain things to you, and what they did today was take our perimeter away."
"I thought it (TCU's field-goal percentage defense) was worse than what I saw on the stat sheet. In transition, they got us a couple of times. Those are big, big hits when we're trying to make a run to come back."