PROVO, Utah — The following notes and quotes are from BYU's 82-64 win over Utah on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020, at the Marriott Center.
ALL-TIME SERIES RESULTS: BYU leads 132-129
TEAM NOTES
Hot shooting
The Cougars started the game hot, shooting 59 percent from the field, including 9 of 10 shooting to end the half. They carried it into the second half, shooting 52 percent. The 55 percent shooting overall is the best the Cougars shot since shooting 58 percent against Westminster.
Leading at the half
BYU is now 6-0 this season when leading at halftime and 0-2 when trailing.
No consecutive losses
With tonight’s win, the Cougars continue a streak where they have not lost consecutive games in the Mark Pope era. They have not lost consecutive games at home since 2011.
PLAYER NOTES
Connor Harding
Harding scored a career-high and team-high 17 points in the game.
Richard Harward
On 7-7 shooting, Harward scored a career-high 15 points. He added seven rebounds, three on the offensive glass.
Spencer Johnson
For the second consecutive game, Johnson registered a career high in points. He had in his 10 last game and 16 tonight. His four 3-pointers were also a career high.
Notable career highs/career firsts
Career-high points: Harding (17), Johnson (16), Harward (15)
Career-high assists: Barcello (8)
Career-high rebounds: Lohner (10)
Career-high 3-pointers made: Johnson (4)
POSTGAME QUOTES
Head coach Mark Pope:
I couldn’t be more proud of our guys. These guys have answered the bell so far. It was such a brutal, brutal stretch. It’s not fair to ask your team to do this—we talk about this schedule a lot. We played eight games in 18 days, traveled across the country, played a road game against one of our biggest rivals, and the last five have all been top-100 teams. You can just feel the fatigue in my guys, but they just found a way to group together and battle, knowing this is the last game and then we’ll have a couple days to breathe here. The Utes, Larry personally, has owned me over our last two meetings—lost a game at UVU and then last year in overtime. Guys just stepped up and got it done. I couldn’t be happier for them, or prouder, or more excited about the resilience and toughness they have shown.
(On the answers they found in the bounce-back from Boise State):
If I was a better coach, I would recognize things earlier. Over the last three weeks, we’ve learned so much about who to play together, where to play them together, when to play them together, what we can do, how can we function, and we’ve learned to get it against a bunch of different opponents. So, we have this massive amount of data we’ve gathered, we just haven’t had a lot of practice time to implement changes. We did have a couple days of practice and a couple days for our guys to breathe before this game, and it was so incredibly helpful for us. We're learning about our team and how to function. The most important thing we’re learning is how tough these kids are.
Junior center Richard Harward:
(On what allowed him to be so successful tonight down low):
I honestly think it’s because we have amazing shooters, and if you have great shooters on the outside, it’s really hard to bring people in and crash down. So, I feel like I had a ton of room to work in the post because they knew if I kicked it out, there was going to be a bucket.
(On how he’s been able to get more comfortable):
After the year and a half of sitting out with the redshirt year, I felt kind of jittery. It’s a different kind of level of competition here at BYU. I feel like the first couple games I was struggling, but finally against Boise State I hit my groove and then in-state games are always huge rivalries with tons of energy, tons of competition, and a lot of bragging rights, so I just came out knowing I had to do something and have that toughness.
Sophomore guard Spencer Johnson:
(On his road to BYU):
It feels really, really good. This is something you dream about as a player, and people especially hype of BYU versus Utah—those in-state rivalry games. It felt so good to be out on the floor and to be able to come out with a win.
(On how the inside game helped free him up for shots):
Our coaches, what they preach to us every day is we shoot every day, and if we pass up an open shot, we get in trouble. Really, that’s what gives me the confidence to be able to do that. Touching on the inside game, our bigs work so hard and they put themselves in great position. You saw, they were ducking in, getting rebounds, and really, that frees up shooters.
Junior guard Connor Harding:
(On if he was thinking about Utah’s second half comeback last year when they made a run in the second half tonight):
I was thinking mostly at halftime by 13, hey these guys got us last year; we’re kind of in the same spot. We had a lead and then suddenly overtime, they start chipping at it, chipping at it. Pope called a good timeout when they were only down by eight and challenged us defensively, and I think after that, we got three or four stops. It’s just maintaining the pace of the game and focusing on the key thing to win the game: less rebounds and defense.
(On why he feels he was able to hit shots tonight):
I think the biggest thing is just finding different ways to score. I had some cuts, some post-ups, and not relying just on the three, just to get me going. It helped me out a lot tonight to get a couple easy ones around the hoop and then start firing the ball. I was able to find my rhythm a little bit, hopefully I’m able to maintain that, keep aggressive, and get my teammates the ball.