Player Notes
Yoeli Childs had season highs of 28 points and five assists while shooting 13 of 18 and grabbing seven rebounds on the night. He also tallied his 100th career dunk and contributed two blocks to tie his season-high.
Jahshire Hardnett had a record night as he attacked his way to a career-best 20 points on six of seven shooting from the field, including three treys. Hardnett added three rebounds, one assist and one steal.
On the night, TJ Haws dished out eight assists to tie his career-best while adding 18 points after making six of his nine attempts. Haws added four rebounds and one steal.
McKay Cannon doubled his points this season after shooting 100 percent on the night for a total of eight points. He also contributed one rebound and one assist.
Rylan Bergersen claimed a career-high three assists while tallying six points and tying his high this season with three rebounds.
In the final minutes of the game, Kolby Lee scored a new career-best five points and grabbed one offensive rebound.
Team Notes
The Cougars recorded season-bests in the first half with 54 points after shooting 58.3 percent from the field and hitting seven 3-pointers.
On the game, BYU shot a season-high 55.7 percent from the field and recorded 52 points in the paint and 30 points off the bench, both of which are highs this season.
Tonight's 105 points led BYU to its first game over 100 since beating Utah Valley in 2016 (101).
Postgame Quotes
BYU guard Jahshire Hardnett
On his 3-point shooting
"Day by day, I come back in after practice and just get shots up. I knew eventually I would start seeing a bigger difference than what I have been seeing. But, they were falling today which was a good thing."
On the team shooing from behind the arc
"We haven’t been shooting as well as we want all season. We were finally seeing some go in during the first half so it gave us confidence in the second half."
BYU guard TJ Haws
On the team finally being able to click together
"It’s a lot of fun. I think we have been pushing the ball a lot recently. We have been getting good looks but they haven’t been falling for us as much as we like. Tonight, we saw the shots fall. I think it proves that when we shoot the ball like this we can be a dangerous team, if we defend the ball. It is fun to see the shots go and when they do go in it’s fun to get the other guys involved as well. It makes us a hard team to guard."
On what changed defensively in the second half
"I think defensively we talked about having an edge to us. We have been talking a year about defending as a team, so a little more in the gaps and a helping each other. It’s not just one guy, it’s everyone guarding everyone."
On playing Houston
"I’m excited. It will be a good atmosphere in here on Saturday. It will be good for Coach Rose as well. They are a great team and we are going to have to play really well but we have had a few good games here at home and we have some confidence and we are in a rhythm so it’s going to be a fun game."
BYU head coach Dave Rose
On tonight's game
"I thought that was a really good challenge for our guys and we responded really well. They had a great plan against us early and were really patient and spread us out and drove us to the basket. I think we will see quite a bit of that with this group. We hung tight with the shooters and were really sharing the ball early and played at a good pace. We took a few shots that were extremely quick, but I think the pace with how we want to play the guys are getting comfortable with. We got the ball inside early and scored and made shots and we were just tough to guard and we stayed the way for the majority of the night. I think it’s a good time to play a good game. There are about three or four holidays we go through each season and I think it will make everything taste a little better tomorrow with the big win and look forward to Saturday."
On TJ and Jahshire clicking
"I think they can play pretty well together. They may not have 20 and 18 points each, but I think it’s good for that to happen so it keeps their spirits up. Jahshire got a couple early fouls and they still were able to navigate really well. TJ played really well when Jahshire was out. It will take a lot of guys to get this done and tonight those two were really good with the ball in their hands, making good decisions and shooting well."
On adjusting in second half
"I think they had a couple of plans. They started out playing behind them and then they started to sink their guards in the second half. I think they had them trapped one time, where it was really uncomfortable for us, but we got some good shots out of the double team and that slowed them down a little bit."
On Saturday's game
"It will be a battle. We are dealing with one of the best coaches ever. He has taken three or four teams to the NCAA tournament. I know a lot about where the coach has been and what he’s done. I’ve got a ton of respect for him."