BYU vs. Saint Mary's Box Score
BYU vs. Saint Mary's Game Recap
Player Notes
Yoeli Childs finished the game with 23 points to make it his sixth-straight game with 20 plus points. He also grabbed 11 rebounds for his 12th double-double of the season. On defense, Childs recorded two blocks and two steals.
TJ Haws contributed 17 points, seven assists and two rebounds while Gavin Baxter scored 10 and brought down five rebounds. Baxter also tallied two blocks to make it his fourth-consecutive game with at least one.
Team Notes
In the first half, BYU shot 46.7 percent from the field as the Cougars held Saint Mary's to 41.4 percent. The BYU offense tallied an impressive nine assists while the Gaels had none.
The Cougars only had two turnovers and defensively forced 17 turnovers.
On the game, BYU shot 45.8 percent from the field, 28.6 percent from 3 and 61.9 percent from the free throw line. Saint Mary's recorded 44.1 percent from the field, 25 percent from beyond the arc and 81.8 percent from the charity stripe.
The last time the Cougars beat the Gaels at home was in 2016 when they earned a 70-59 win in the Marriott Center.
Postgame Quotes
BYU forward Yoeli Childs
On defensive stand to finish game
I think we did a great job of being locked in as a unit. When we got beat other guys came over to help and make the extra play. We had to get back to playing for each other like we were doing the rest of the game.
On beating Saint Mary’s
It felt amazing. It’s up there with beating Utah. We’ve had a tough run against Saint Mary’s – they’re a tough team to beat. They execute well on offense and make it hard for you on defense. They’re a great team, and it feels great to beat a great team.
On the home crowd effect
I thought the crowd was unbelievable all night. I was really impressed with our fans. I feel like they did a great job giving us an energy boost and I think they honestly had a big effect on the Saint Mary’s players.
BYU guard TJ Haws
On the team’s defense
We did a great job of guarding as a team and making them uncomfortable. A lot of their guys are really talented and we made them do things that they don’t normally do or don’t want to do, like forcing them to the off hand or making them shoot challenging shots. We knew they were going to make some tough shots, and they did, but we’ll live with them shooting those tough ones all night.
On Gavin Baxter’s growing impact
Gavin is just getting better and better right now. Out on the floor he has a lot of confidence and he’s playing really great and I’m proud of him. That wingspan is super long and he can challenge a lot of shots. We made them uncomfortable tonight and a lot of that was Gavin.
On personal offensive mindset
I just tried to stay aggressive all night and get to basket, attack those guys and make the right play.
On what this win means
This team has put in a lot of work and for it to show like it did tonight – I’m really proud of our guys. We came together really well tonight, guarded as a team and took a step forward defensively. That gives us a lot of confidence to beat those guys. Now we need to take that and keep moving forward.
BYU head coach Dave Rose
On tonight's game
I think that it was a real quality win for our team. I think our guys responded well to a disappointing outcome a couple weeks ago at their place. We weathered a lot of storms. When you hold a team to 66 points and they get 17 rebounds, it shows determination and grit. We stayed in it and hung in there. We made them take tough shots. I think our execution on the offensive end was maybe as good as it been. You don’t play many games where you just turn the ball over twice and have no turnovers in the second half.
On offensive performance
I think our guys started to be more aggressive driving the ball to the basket. I really think our purpose was really good tonight. We had open shots that we didn’t settle for. We knew what we wanted to get and for most of the night we were good at making sure we got that.
On Gavin Baxter's performance
The matchup was what we needed. His length caused Fitz some problems. Gav came in and settled him down. Fitz drove to the basket a couple times and Gavin’s length made him miss. His legs are alive and his length really helps us.