BYU vs. Texas Southern postgame notes

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BYU vs. Texas Southern Box Score

BYU vs. Texas Southern Game Recap

Player Notes

Yoeli Childs scored double figures for the 11th game in a row with 19 points, while adding eight boards and two steals.

TJ Haws shot 50 percent from the field, contributing 11 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Zac Seljaas scored nine points in the win. He also added four assists and three rebounds.

Elijah Bryant recorded eight points and led the team with five assists and two blocks.

Payton Dastrup hit a 3-pointer in the second half, making it the third game in a row he has scored a trey. He finished the game with seven points and six rebounds.

McKay Cannon recorded a career-high four steals and also scored five points, all of which came in the second half.

Team Notes

After shooting 38.7 percent in the first half, the Cougars improved to 42.9 percent overall to help them earn a 73-52 victory.

Collectively, BYU recorded 37 rebounds, 19 assists and eight steals.

Quotes

BYU forward Yoeli Childs 

On the sluggish start

"I can’t really pinpoint a reason for the slow start. I thought mentally we were pretty ready to go. Coach told us that there are going to be games where we struggle offensively. We knew that if we stuck with it defensively that things would turn out alright, and we would start hitting shots like we did in the second half. I was shooting badly in the first half and every single guy on the team had my back. They came up and patted me on the back and told me to keep shooting. You need to keep building each others confidence. That is the key when you are having a bad night offensively."

On the match-up with 7-2 Trayvon Reed

"He was a great player. He was really long. The important thing is that we came out with the win. I think we figured out how to be a little more aggressive in the second half. Instead of going away from him, we started to go at him. Making that adjustment was huge for us."

Looking back at the preseason 

"We have had our ups and downs. There are games that we have won and learned from, and also games we have lost and learned from. I think that is what it is all about. We have realized that no matter what happens we need to trust what we do and stick with our plan and play for each other."

BYU guard TJ Haws

On the BYU defense

"For us, we have to learn to win on nights where we aren’t shooting the ball as well as we had hoped. I thought we had a great game plan coming into this game defensively. Give Texas Southern credit. They made tough shots."

On changes made in the second half

"I thought we did a good job of getting out in transition. We got a few stops and wore them down in the second half and started getting and-1’s and layups. It is big for our team to get out in transition and make teams run with us."

On Texas Southern missing Demontrae Jefferson

"That is a tough situation, and our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family. Hopefully our team prepares the exact same whether they have all of their guys or just a few of their guys. We were ready to guard him (Jefferson) tonight, but hopefully we bring that same energy and intensity no matter who is on the floor.​"

BYU head coach Dave Rose

Thoughts on game

"There were so many really good teaching points in this game that we’ll address when we get back next week. I saw a lot of growth in our team with a group that was a little mentally and physically tired from this week. What usually comes easily for us didn’t come easily tonight, but our guys still hung in there, they played together and we had help from our bench. We did a lot of things tonight that can really pay off down the road when you are competing for a conference championship."

"We’re a much better team when we get multiple guys hitting 3s. Tonight, everybody hit one, so we changed the way we played. We got the ball side to side, penetrated the ball and got to the rim."

"I’m really happy for the win. These guys deserve the win. Now we’ll take our Christmas break and come back on Tuesday."