BYU vs. SPU Notes and Quotes

BYU vs. SPU Game Story

BYU vs. SPU Box Score

BYU vs. SPU Facebook Photo Gallery

Player Notes

Chase Fischer led all scorers with 21 points and four assists in his second start. He finished shooting 9 of 13 from the field and 2 of 5 from beyond the arc.

Tyler Haws followed up with 15 points, 7 of 11 from the field, and four steals. The senior scored the first points in both halves of the game.

Junior Kyle Collinsworth added two points and four assists in his first start of the season after last season’s injury. His points came on a two-hand dunk at the 15:09 mark in the first half.

Freshman Corbin Kaufusi finished with a game-high eight rebounds and three blocks in 15 minutes of play.

Frank Bartley IV added four points that included a dunk at the 7:33 mark and drew a charge on the other end to keep BYU up 24-19. Freshman Dalton Nixon chipped in five points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

Team Notes

Starters: Chase Fischer, Tyler Haws, Kyle Collinsworth, Josh Sharp and Luke Worthington

After a back-and-forth battle, the Cougars went on an 11-0 run over 2:39 to take their first double-digit lead of the game leading 29-19. BYU finished the half up 40-30 after shooting 51.5 percent from the field and dishing out 11 assists.

BYU extended its lead to 20, 58-38, following Anson Winder’s layup with 12:40 remaining in the second half. With 0:40 remaining, Jordan Ellis drove in to give BYU its largest lead of the game, 75-44.

The Cougars finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field while holding SPU to a 23.1 shooting percentage in the second half to only allow 14 points.

BYU scored 34 points on 24 SPU turnovers with the Cougar bench contributing 35 points for the game.

BYU Quotes

Coach Dave Rose

"I'm pleased with what happened tonight. I'm pleased we were able to get so many guys in. I thought everybody who came in added something positive to the game. We had an opportunity to gain some experience and learn, and we're looking forward to Friday's game."

"I thought we did a good job of protecting the rim tonight. We played well on defense and just needed to finish some of our plays a little better."

Chase Fischer

On Kyle being on the floor again:

"He's such a good passer. He's so big. He takes a lot of pressure off everybody else defensively, with his rebounding, his passing and scoring. It was great to have him out there and the morale was up a little bit for everyone just having him out there." 

Defensive effort:

"In the second half, we made a lot of adjustments. The main thing was our pressure. We caused a lot of turnovers and our weakside help was there. In the second half, we came out and really executed well."

"We have a lot of energy guys, one guy in particular is Skyler Halford. He'll ignite us and get on the floor. This game we really just wanted to play with energy and heart. If we do that every game and come up with those 50/50 balls. It can mean the difference between three and four wins in a sesaon. We have a hard-nosed team and that's the identity we need to keep forming."

Preparing for Long Beach State on Friday:

"If we defend and rebound, we'll be tough to beat. Especially if the effort is there. Our offense will be the same no matter what, but if we bring the defense we'll be tough to beat."

Kyle Collinsworth

On getting back on the floor:

"It felt great. Just the mindset was to be a big defensive prescence, play as hard as I can and get guys shots on the team. That's all I wanted to do tonight. Get the rust off and get ready for Friday."

On the freshmen:

"They're playing well. They're plaing their roles. They know what they need to do, shoot open shots and make the next pass. They're just playing their roles and doing what coach is asking them to do."

Focus for Long Beach State:

"Defense and rebounding and pace on offense. We need to just play our game, do what we do, and make them adjust."