TEAM NOTES
Four players scored in double figures for BYU. Chase Fischer led with 16 points while Kyle Collinsworth added 12 and Nick Emery and Jakob Hartsock added 11 apiece. BYU had four players score in double figures in each of its exhibition contests.
After Alaska made 2 of its first 4, BYU’s defense held the Nanooks to just 2 of 15 shooting over a 13-minute span. BYU went on a 19-5 run after surrendering the first five points to the Nanooks.
Five different players grabbed offensive rebounds in the game, led by five apiece from Nate Austin and Braiden Shaw.
BYU outrebounded Alaska 47-38, and pounded the glass for 15 offensive rebounds, resulting in 14 second-chance points.
The Cougars led for just shy of 36 minutes in the game, with the largest lead of 18 coming with 2:39 to play.
PLAYER NOTES
Chase Fischer led all scorers with 18 points, scoring 10 of his points in the final four minutes of play, including back-to-back triples.
Kyle Collinsworth scored 14 points and added six rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block.
Jakob Hartsock scored in double figures for the second consecutive exhibition game with 11 points tonight. He hit three treys and grabbed four rebounds, two assists and one steal in 18 minutes of play.
Nick Emery scored 11 points and tied for the team lead with eight rebounds while handing out three assists. Emery finished the two exhibition games with 31 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.
Braiden Shaw nabbed nine points and seven rebounds, including five offensive boards.
QUOTES
"I felt like we came out a little bit sluggish. We were getting up and down a little slow. Guys were giving a good effort, but it took us a while to get into the rhythm of the game. You have to give them credit. They shot well and played hard. We never really had the energy that our team needs to win the big games. We are sick of the games not counting."
On returning starters:
"Kyle Collinsworth makes everyone’s job easier. He rebounds hard, sees the floor well and finds the open guy. It’s great having him back. I think our team gains confidence when he is on the floor, along with Chase Fischer. They are great leaders. Players know that we can count on those guys on both ends of the floor."
"We didn’t get the start that we wanted, but we came out with the win, which is the most important part. We know what we need to do to come away with the wins in every game."
On his role:
"My role is to give 100 percent. That’s all you can really do. You show up to practice and give 100 percent there and let it translate over to the game. Loose balls and success will come with that effort."
BYU coach Dave Rose
"I’m obviously pleased that we won the game, but there are a lot of things from the game tonight that concern us. We never really got into a flow tonight. It’s amazing that you can practice 25 or 26 times and have your guys play a certain way, and then for some reason you get to a game and it doesn’t look like anything you’ve seen in practice. Hopefully, we can take what we have in practice and bring it to a game when the big lights are one. For next week, hopefully we can correct a lot of the mistakes we made and get ready for the home opener. I thought there were some good individual performances, but as a team, I didn’t think we played very well together. Hopefully, we can fix that."
How he measures how much time to spend on the results of an exhibition game:
"I think our expectation is that every time we go out, we play together. We’re an extra pass kind of team and a team that shoots quick, but for the most part, we take good shots. I think tonight we took hurried shots and rushed shots. A lot of those shots were ones we shouldn’t have shot. There’s a big difference in shots and we have to figure that out. It affects everyone when we’re not playing together. You never get into a rhythm. Alaska did a great job of controlling the tempo and keeping offensive possessions long. Early in the game, they got to the paint a lot, which is an area we’ve worked on for quite a few weeks. We just need to be better together."
On Braiden Shaw:
"Braiden played a lot of tonight and made good use of his time out there. He really helped our team with five offensive rebounds and his fight around the basket. His ability to score and his free-throws helped us. As far as the things go that we did well, Braiden did those well."
On Kyle Collinsworth’s first performance with the team this year:
"Chase and Kyle have been so good with this group regarding energy level and their urgency. There wasn’t a lot of that tonight. Tonight was about other things, so hopefully we can get it back on track. You could feel it in there tonight. We missed a lot of shots, but that’s not the reason the results turned out the way they did. Those came because of how we were playing. We weren’t on attack and we never really got them back on their heels. That’s something that we try to do every game, and hopefully we can do that next week."
Are you concerned with the amount of injuries
"To me, whom you play is based on who you have, and how you play is based on how you practice. This team practices really well. We should play better. I think whoever is out there should have more of a determination and energy and effort with their execution. I am concerned with the injuries and the lack of personnel we’ve ended up with in these two exhibition games. We’re done with having guys fall out. We’re hoping to get those that are hurt back into the fold."
Alaska head coach Mike Durham
On BYU:
“They are young. They are a developing team too with just a couple of veteran guys. They need to get healthy. I think it’s just a matter of them getting back to full health. It will be interesting. They need their bigs to develop. I like their team. I like what they’re about. They need games like we need games.”