BYU at Portland: Game Notes and Quotes

Player Notes

• Brandon Davies posted another double-double (6th this season) and came close to a triple-double with 18 points, 13 rebounds and a career-high 8 steals, one shy of the school record. He has scored in double-figures 21 times this season and in 14-straight games. He added 4 assists and 1 block.
• Craig Cusick set a new career high with 12 points, including 2 treys. Cusick is shooting 12 of 19 from behind the arc in conference play. He also had a career-high 4 steals and 3 rebounds.
• Noah Hartsock was held scoreless in the first half, playing just 4 minutes with 2 early fouls. In the second half he reached double figures without a field goal, hitting 12 of 12 free throws, a career-best. It was his first game without a field goal (0 for 6) since Mar. 2, 2010 in a home loss to New Mexico, a string of 33 games.

• Head coach Dave Rose went with the starting lineup of Matt Carlino, Anson Winder, Charles Abouo, Noah Hartsock and Brandon Davies.
• BYU outrebounded the Pilots 20-15 in the first half and picked up 7 offensive boards. The Cougars finished the game with a 41-30 advantage on the glass and grabbed 16 offensive rebounds.
• The team finished with a school-record 18 steals, including 8 from Davies, 4 for Cusick and 2 for Abouo, and forced Portland into 30 turnovers. The Cougars have 45 steals in the last 3 games.
• BYU did a lot of damage from the free throw line, making a season-high 38 free throws on a season-high and school-record 53 attempts. The team also made 17-straight at one point in the second half.
• Five Cougars scored in double figures. Davies led with 18 points, Carlino scored 13 points and Hartsock, Cusick and Zylstra had 12 points apiece.
• With the win, Dave Rose has coached BYU to at least 20 victories in each of his seven seasons at the helm of the program. Rose is the only coach in BYU history to coach seven 20-win teams.

• BYU held the Pilots off the scoreboard for the first 3:24 of the game, picking up 3 steals and blocking 2 shots en route to a 6-0 lead.
• Cusick hit his second 3-pointer during an 8-0 Cougar run, stretching BYU’s lead to 21-14 with 10:01 left in the first half.
• Portland cut the lead down to 29-27 in the final 2 minutes with an 8-2 run but BYU took a 32-27 lead into the locker room.
• The Pilots came out in the second half hot, opening on a 9-1 run to take a 39-35 lead while BYU was cold, making just 1 of 6 shots in the first four minutes
• Hartsock hit 10 of 10 free throws in the first 10 minutes of the second half and BYU was able to retake the lead 53-47 with 9:09 left in the game.
• BYU closed the game on a 11-0 run and went home with a 79-60 victory.

Head coach Dave Rose

"We had a good result tonight. Our guys really had to fight for this win. That is what you do and that is how conference basketball is no matter what league you are in. Tonight was a real kind of grind it out game."

"I think the game was played at a really fast pace and was really physical. Both teams defensively were really engaged and played hard and ended up with a lot of fouls in the game. It was kind of a chopped up game as far as stoppage was concerned."

"I am really proud of our guys. We got ourselves in a tough spot to start the second half and then we recovered from that. We found a way to win. We figured out a way to get the ball at the rim and get to the free throw line and convert and get stops. We are really pleased with this win."

"It is a real credit to our guys. For whatever reason we are had a really hard time making perimeter shots. We needed to get the ball at the rim and that has been a real focus for our team. We have to give our guys credit because we’d just throw it down to our big guys and our big guys would get banged and knocked around."

"Brandon had eight of those steals. A lot of those steals led to points or fouls where we got to the free throw line. It is one of those things where your guys have to figure out a way and tonight we did."