- Brandon Davies scored 17 points in the first half, a career-high for the first period, including a string of 10-straight for BYU. Davies finished with a game-high 23 points on 9 of 13 shooting. He also added 5 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.
- Matt Carlino had 10 points in the first half on 4 of 6 shooting. He finished with 21 points on 7 of 12 shooting and made 3 treys. Carlino also dished out a game-high 8 assists and had 3 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block.
- Noah Hartsock scored in double figures again (every game this year) with 21 points on 8 of 11 shooting. He also registered 5 rebounds and 1 assist.
- Charles Abouo scored 13 points and made 6 of 6 free throws. Abouo had 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 rebound.
Team Notes
- Head coach Dave Rose went with the starting lineup of Matt Carlino, Brock Zylstra, Charles Abouo, Noah Hartsock and Brandon Davies.
- BYU continued its trend of being one of the best teams in the nation at sharing the ball with assists on 11 of 15 first half makes. The Cougars finished the game with 21 helpers on 33 baskets for 63.7 percent.
- Three players scored 20 points or more for the first time since March 6, 2010 against TCU. Davies led all scorers with 23 points and Carlino and Hartsock added 21 apiece.
- The Cougars had a fourth player in double figures. Abouo had 13 points on 3 of 6 shooting and made all 6 of his free throws.
- BYU shot a season-high 56.9 percent from the field, making 33 of 58 shots and shot 60 percent in the second half while making 7 treys.
- Noah Hartsock drained a 3-pointer on BYU’s first possession and the pace quickened with both teams taking a combined 18 shots in the first five minutes. BYU held a 11-8 advantage with 14:58 remaining.
- Davies scored 10-straight points for BYU to keep pace with a hot-shooting Santa Clara team and hold onto a 30-26 lead with 7:24 left in the first half.
- Both teams shot above 50 percent in a fast paced first half. BYU shot 53.6 percent to the Broncos’ 51.7 percent. The Cougars took a 45-42 lead at halftime.
- Abouo drained a 3-pointer with 15:33 left on the clock as a part of a 9-2 BYU run to give the Cougars their first double-digit lead of the game at 62-50.
- BYU used a 7-0 run to pull away from Santa Clara and led 75-58 with 8:08 remaining in the game.
BYU Head Coach Dave Rose
“I thought that it was a really well played game. Offensively, both teams were hard to stop. Santa Clara has a great guard line in those three guys. When they’re shooting the ball well it causes a lot of problems. It freed up the pressure we were trying to extend and it freed up a lot of things in the post.”
“I’m proud of our guys for being able to keep up with them. We had a hard time stopping them so we had to score to keep up. Going into this game I didn’t think we would have to score 95 to win but I knew we would have to score. I’m proud of our guys and look forward to our game on Monday.”
“We have a lot of confidence in our post guys to score the ball. They were really physical. They did a good job trying to get us out of comfortable spots but we were still able to convert in the post. Brandon was really good in the first half and Noah was really good in the second half. That’s a good combination to have.”
“We turned over the ball a few times in transition but we stayed with it and I thought we made pretty good decisions. We had 21 assists tonight and that’s a good number but it was hard to control the pace because they just kept scoring. We didn’t get a lot of defensive stops and defensive rebounds but the ones we did get we capitalized on.”
Santa Clara Head Coach Kerry Keating
“Obviously a team like that that can shoot it really well from a lot of different spots and has an inside presence, the focus is on not giving them a lot of open shots. I thought we did a good of that in the first half. Eventually a good team like that is going to wear you down with their bench… They have guys who can make shots all over the floor.”
“A lot of pressure was on trying to make every stop happen and that is hard to do especially on the road.”
“Our guys weren’t as fazed by the size, the sound is something that affects you on the road. It’s a great place. I want our guys to thrive in that and relish it. I didn’t tell them until after the game what their record was in the last 16 years. I didn’t want to spook them.”