BYU-St. Mary's Notes and Quotes

MORAGA, Calif. – The following notes are from BYU's 62-52 win over St. Mary’s on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, at University Credit Union Pavilion. 

ALL-TIME SERIES RESULTS: Series tied 16-16

TEAM NOTES

Tight First Half

The Cougars shot 12-26 from the field compared to the Gaels’ 12-27. St. Mary’s five made three-pointers to BYU’s one triple was a key difference in the first half. No team had a lead of more than six points, each team went into the break with six fouls and neither team shot a free throw in the half.

Free Throws

After shooting zero free throws in the first half, the Cougars took 15 free throws in the second half, going 11-15 from the charity stripe. They closed the game in the double bonus.

Second Half Run

BYU took a 51-50 lead at the 4:08 mark of the second half. The Cougars held the Gaels scoreless for just under 10 minutes as they went on a 16-0 run to take a lead they would not relinquish. BYU closed the game on a 22-5 run.

Winning in Moraga

The Cougars picked up their first win at University Credit Union Pavilion since Feb. 14, 2014.

Start to WCC Play

BYU (10-3, 1-1) is now even in conference play, while St. Mary’s (9-4, 0-2) opens the WCC slate at 0-2.

No Back-to-Back Losses

Head coach Mark Pope has yet to lose two games in a row during his tenure at BYU.

PLAYER NOTES

Alex Barcello

Barcello has finished in double figures in 10 of BYU’s 13 games this season. He finished with a team-high 14 points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Caleb Lohner

Lohner grabbed nine boards, tying his second-most rebounds in a game this season. He also tallied nine rebounds against New Orleans on Nov. 26, 2020, and had 10 against Utah on Dec. 12, 2020. He continues to lead all BYU players in rebounding this season, as a freshman off the bench.

Notable career highs/career firsts

Career-high steals: Averette (3, tied)

First career start: Trevin Knell

COACH AND PLAYER QUOTES

Head coach Mark Pope

On how he has never lost back-to-back games in his tenure at BYU ...

“That’s a credit to this team. We talked about it post-USC, now we’re post-Gonzaga in a super weird time for our team, after we went through some personal challenges, locker room challenges, over the last few days. That’s beautiful kids, beautiful young men who at the end of the day, they’re deciding that they want to fight for each other. That’s how you manage that, is with great young men.”

On Trevin Knell’s performance in the game ...

“I was super proud of Trevin for a few things. We talked about at pregame how Saint Mary’s is really effective at hip checking you once you turn the corner and max everybody out of bounds. Well, Trev is a physical-seeking guy down the lane. He wants to get hit, and he wants to get contact. Those two buckets he had down the lane in the second half were so huge. He also made some big defensive plays where he came up with a huge tipped ball that was a steal. I thought he was great and made the only three of the game in the first half. He’s been knocking on the door for a long time, and his future is ahead of us. He’s going to be a terrific, driven player, and he certainly made a big difference for us tonight.”

On BYU’s upcoming game against San Francisco on Saturday ...

“This San Francisco team is really talented and they cause a lot of problems for us, matchup-wise. I think they’re shooting 200+ three's more than their opponent already on the season. They spread the floor the whole game long. It’s a huge game for us and a really difficult matchup, so bring it, boys.”

Guard Brandon Averette

On getting the comeback victory …

“It was fun. We knew it was going to be a battle. We knew that we were going to need to keep fighting. They weren’t going to go away, and neither were we. But we knew what kind of game it was going to be coming in, and it was fun. Those are the kind of games you really live for, and that’s why we love playing this game.”

On what makes Saint Mary’s difficult to play against ...

“Their physicality. It kind of threw us off at the start of the game, and we knew what we were getting ourselves into, but it’s different than watching it on film and then actually being out there going through it. So I feel like their physicality kind of just took us out a little bit and we didn’t really move the ball at the start of the game like we normally do. Their physicality kind of got to us a little bit tonight.”