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Dave Rose postgame press conference
Kyle Collinsworth/Nick Emery postgame press conference
Player Notes
In Nick Emery’s first career start, he led the team in scoring with 18 points and totaled 7 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals. His 7 assists is a career high.
Kyle Collinsworth finished with 11 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks. His 4 steals is a season high. Collinsworth passed Noah Hartsock for 29th all-time in scoring at BYU. He also passed Matt Carlino for 6th on the career steals list, Bruce Burton for 11th on the career rebounds list and Trent Plaisted for 5th on the career offensive rebounds list. The double figure scoring game is the 69th of his career tying him with Andy Toolson for 16th on the list.
Chase Fischer tied his season high with 3 3-pointers. He passed Jimmy Balderson and Nathan Call and is now 16th on the career 3-pointers made list. Fisher finished with 9 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists.
Corbin Kaufusi tied his career high with four blocks and had 12 points ,4 rebounds and an assist on the night.
Kyle Davis was one of four Cougars in double figures with 13 points. He added 7 rebounds and an assist.
Nate Austin grabbed a season-high 7 rebounds and totaled 2 points and a block to go with them.
Team Notes
Fischer, Emery, Collinsworth, Davis and Kaufusi started together for the first time this season. It’s the second starting lineup Rose has used this season and the group began the game making its first four shots from the field to start off an a 10-2 run.
BYU extended its home win streak to nine games and home non-conference win streak to five.
The Cougars used a 12-0 run over three minutes early in the first half to grab their biggest lead of the game at 22-5. Kaufusi scored five points during the run, Davis scored four and Emery hit a 3-pointer.
BYU also used a 9-0 run over the final two minutes of the first half to go into the locker room up by 12 at 44-32. Emery scored five point during the run, while Collinsworth and Kaufusi each added two.
Quotes
BYU head coach Dave Rose
“I’m glad for the win. It’s pretty obvious that we are a work in progress, trying to find ourselves for a consistent 40 minutes. I thought we got off to a great start and played really well offensively and defensively. Maybe an error in judgment on my part, we put a while different group in there and lost momentum. We brought the first group back in and finished pretty well. In the second half, they hit their first three shots. That’s where defensively we need to be a little better. We seemed to be a step slower the rest of the night, but we finished and won. We will come back in tomorrow and practice to get ready for (Saturday).”
Team identity:
“We just need to find an identity to this team right now. We have played some teams that physically, we are bigger than, so we have been able to do some things pretty well just because of our physical presence. We have to start to rely on our system and each other. We need to play with more urgency and more confidence. That will be our challenge, to find the right group to do that for a consistent 40 minutes.”
On the good start:
“It looked good and felt good for the first five minutes. We shared the ball really well and we were active in the post. Corbin was 4 of 4 to start the game from the field. As the game wore on, his game got a little bit looser. He didn’t have clean catches and they tipped it away. I think the size and quickness of the other guys got in our way a little bit.”
On the team mindset:
“We didn’t have a real urgent mindset tonight. I thought we started out with a really good feel to us, then it kind of changed and we weren’t able to get it back. That is a sign of an inexperienced team, to have something get away from you and then have it affect you for the rest of the game instead of being able to get on to the next play.”
On the team’s defense:
“We have done a pretty good job of limiting their best player. Tonight, it was exactly the opposite. I think that was really discouraging to our group, but not everything is going to go exactly how you want it to go. It feels like the guys are kind of fighting our system. We need to get guys playing together all of the time. It’s a young group and young groups take time.”
On the win:
“It happens in games like that. We were a little flat. At the end of the day, we won and that’s all that matters. We won and we will get ready for the next game.”
On moving on:
“In a game like this, all we can do is take what we did well and keep doing that and find ways we can improve to keep getting better everyday. You can’t dwell too much on great games and great wins and you can’t dwell on not great wins or losses. It is one day at a time.”
On the hot start:
“It’s playing with guys like these guys. It’s not too easy coming in as a freshman. It’s a continuous cycle to keep growing and improving.”
On his first start:
“Whenever Coach Rose calls your name, you just have to be ready, whether you’re starting or coming off the bench. Coach puts trust in us and we just have to trust him and his game plan.”
MVSU head coach Andre Payne
On MVSU's energetic performance:
“We go into a lot of venues so I have to help the guys feed off of my energy. We've played 14 games in 13 different states so we're our only fans. If I don't have energy then I don't think my guys will have energy. The key to it is for them to play without me and at the end I can give them that boost of energy. I need to be like the sixth man on the court. My wife even texted me and said, "Baby, don't have a stroke."
On BYU atmosphere:
“Y’all have great fans here that are into the game and respectable. They've been some of the most respectable fans we've seen. We've been treated bad at some places, so I can say it’s a good place to come play.”
“Playing here helps us to learn how to play in a big arena. When we play our conference tournament in the Toyota Center in Houston it’s a big help. Most of the gyms in our conference aren't bigger than 5,000 or 10,000 at the most. Now we'll be accustomed to playing in a big arena which will make a huge difference for us.”
On visiting Utah​:
“I love it here. The people here are great and I love the mountains. I took all kinds of pictures. It's great to get out and see a great part of the country. I'd love to invite them down to play in the Mississippi valley so they can see some of the corn and beans and cotton fields that we have down in Mississippi. It's always good to see something different.”