PROVO, Utah - The following notes are from BYU's 65-53 win over Westminster College on Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021, at the Marriott Center.
ALL-TIME SERIES RESULTS: BYU leads 4-0
TEAM NOTES
First Half
BYU struggled to stay consistent in the first half, exchanging hot and cold streaks in a lackluster start. Trevin Knell and Alex Barcello opened the game with back-to-back three pointers and Gideon George started 3-of-3 from behind the arch. The Cougars followed the hot start with a 6:07 scoring drought.
Fousseyni Traore recorded two blocks on defense. After Barcello and Te’Jon Lucas hit back-to-back threes, the Cougars went scoreless during the remaining 3:26 of the first half. BYU’s largest lead of 11 was cut down to five at the half. The Cougars shot 43.8% from three and 36.7% from the field. Neither team had attempted a free-throw in the first 20 minutes.
Second Half
The Cougars opened the second half shooting better than the way they finished the first, with Lucas hitting a three pointer followed by a soft floater on the first two possessions. Fellow backcourt partner Barcello added a three of his own as BYU extended their halftime lead. BYU continued to shoot well from downtown, going 14-of-31 on the night.
Hunter Erickson provided the gusto the Cougars needed in the second half, highlighted by a steal and a slam that ignited the Marriott Center crowd. Erickson followed with a 3-pointer tying the bow on his career night. BYU’s first free throws of the night came with 4:32 left in the game when Knell capped off a three-point play. BYU finished the night with 31 bench points in the 65-53 win.
Shooting and 3-Pointers
There were five Cougars that made a three-point field goal on the way to BYU’s best shooting night from behind the arc since shooting 52.2 percent in a loss to Creighton in Sioux Falls on December 11.
George led the Cougars three point barrage going 5-of-8 from behind the arc. Alex Barcello, Hunter Erickson, and Te’Jon Lucas each posted a 50-percent clip with Barcello going 3-for-6 and both Erickson and Lucas going 2-of-4. Trevin Knell shot 40-percent from behind the arc, making 2-of-5 attempts to round out the three point shooting night for the Cougars.
Points off the Bench
Erickson, George and Atiki Ally Atiki combined for 31 points off the bench, accounting for nearly half of BYU’s 65 points. Cougars coming off the bench also accounted for 17 of BYU's 37 rebounds.
Defense
Traore added two blocks in the first half to go along with five rebounds. Barcello, Lohner and Atiki each finished with five rebounds of their own and George led the way with eight. BYU held the Griffins to their second-lowest point total of the season.
Gideon George
Gideon George posted a season-high 17 points in the win over the Griffins. George went 6-of-10 from the field, 5-for-8 from three-point land. The senior added eight rebounds to his 17 points which led the Cougars in both categories tonight.
Hunter Erickson
Hunter Erickson came off the bench to score in double figures for the first time in his BYU career, tallying 10 points in the win. The sophomore from Provo went 4-for-7 from the floor and 2-of-4 from behind the arc. Erickson added two rebounds, an assist and a steal.
Head Coach Mark Pope
Thoughts on the game
“We definitely didn’t play our best game tonight but all things considered, I’m really proud of the guys.”
On the scoring off the bench
“Our bench scoring has been great all season long. It's been really important to us, and not just the bench scoring, but the bench on the glass has been really effective. That's important, you get into conference play and your depth is tested in everything that you do. You win because of depth, and so the fact that we have guys coming off the bench that are elite level players is really important and it's what's going to give us a chance to be competitive in this league.”
On Alex Barcello’s performance
“I'm not concerned at all. That's the luxury of having a veteran guy like him. I don't spend any time worrying about Alex Barcello. He's a big-time player, carried such an incredible load and accomplished so much in these 15 games. I think he's got a sense of the challenge ahead of us.”
On gritting out tough wins this season
“I think that's what we're going to have. Clearly the roster that we started the season with is not what we had tonight and it's gonna be like this all spring long. It's just gonna be guys in and out, guys stepping up and doing their job and it's gonna be about toughness.”
On finishing non-conference play
“This game today was just putting the final touches on non-conference play. It was really important that we finished this right. We clearly didn’t play our best game tonight but all things considered, I'm super proud of the guys. For us right now we need to regroup, we have to get healthy. These 15 games have come at a real emotional cost for our guys. I'm actually more concerned about their freshness emotionally than I am about their freshness physically.”
On takeaways from the first half of the season
Well, my biggest takeaway is that I need to stop scheduling like this because this is not smart. That's the number one takeaway. The number two takeaway is that we have a lot of guys that are really willing to contribute and we need every single one of them. We've needed every single guy. Every single guy stepped up and helped us win games…That's what I've learned is we have a lot of people that we can count on, trust and we're gonna need every single one.
Forward Gideon George
Thoughts on the game and Hunter Erickson’s performance
“I'm super proud of the way the team played tonight. We didn't do some of the things that our coaches talked about but I'm super proud of the team and Hunter Erickson stepping up. He's always been ready, his name was called tonight and he stepped up big time. I'm really excited for Hunt, everyone was showing him love so I'm really glad for him.”
On returning home after nine games
“It feels good to be home and to have that home-court advantage. It feels like it's been forever since we played at home since we've just been on the road. It feels really good seeing the fans again and tonight they helped to set the tone of the game.”
On Erickson’s work behind the scenes
“He works hard every day and he's a team guy. He's all in for this team, no matter what he's dedicated to this team. He's a really hard worker and I'm just glad and thankful that his name was called upon tonight and he performed to expectation. We already knew that he's been working hard, just waiting for his name to be called. It did today and it was the perfect time.