BYU vs. UALR Notes and Quotes

BYU vs. UALR Box Score

BYU vs. UALR Facebook Photo Gallery

PROVO, Utah – Nineteen points from Chase Fischer and 18 from Tyler Haws led BYU to a 91-62 win over Arkansas-Little Rock Tuesday night at the Marriott Center.

A strong second half including a 19-3 run allowed the Cougars to win by almost 30.

"As we attacked better, I thought the flow of the game was much better," BYU head coach Dave Rose said. "(In the second half), we hit a couple shots and got the crowd involved."

Fischer led the Cougars with 19 points on 7 of 12 shooting, including 4 of 7 from behind the 3-point line. Haws added 18 points on 6 of 11 shooting while grabbing four rebounds and dishing out five assists. Nate Austin scored eight points and led the team with 11 rebounds while Kyle Collinsworth pulled down eight boards, scored five points and handed out six assists.

BYU (2-0, 0-0 WCC) shot 53.6 percent from the field and 35.0 percent from three, while outrebounding the Trojans 47-33. BYU picked it up on the defensive end holding Arkansas-Little Rock (1-1, 0-0 Sun Belt) to 34.4 percent shooting in the game.

Luke Worthington got the crowd on their feet when he caught the ball in the post, made a nice spin move and slammed the ball home. Roger Woods kept the Trojans in the game with five early points as the Cougars led 13-11 at the first media timeout.

After a run from the Trojans to get within one, Fischer caught a pass on the left wing and pump-faked to get his man in the air. He made the jumper and was fouled. He made the free throw putting the Cougars back up by four.

After a close game throughout the first half, the Cougars stepped up their defensive effort to close out the half and took a 37-28 lead at the break.

BYU’s defense stifled the Trojans as they held Arkansas-Little Rock to 26 percent shooting in the first half, while the Cougars shot at a 47 percent clip. The Trojans knocked down 10 of 12 free throws while the Cougars struggled from the charity stripe making just 7 of 14 attempts. The Cougars outrebounded the Trojans 24 to 18, while scoring 16 points in the paint compared to Arkansas-Little Rock’s two.

Fischer and Haws led all first-half scorers with nine points each. Worthington added seven first-half points, which tied his career high. Collinsworth added six assists and Nate Austin led the team with five rebounds in the half.

The Cougars came out hot to start the second half. After a steal on defense by Skyler Halford, he pushed the ball up the court and found Fischer for a 3-pointer. After another defensive stop, Haws found an opening in the left corner and buried a three of his own to put BYU up 45-31.

Haws brought down the house when he stole the ball on defense and took it coast-to-coast and finished with the two-handed slam to cap a 14-3 BYU run to push the score to 51-33.

Roger Woods hit 1 of 2 free throws to cap a 10-0 Trojan run to get the game back to single digits. Anson Winder didn’t let that last too long, after the made shot he knocked down a 3-pointer to push BYU’s lead back to 12 with 12:44 left to play.

BYU proved to be too much for the Trojans in the second half, outscoring them 54-34 in the final 20 minutes to seal the 29-point win.

"It was a good win for us," Rose said. "I look forward to the next 24 hours to see how our guys will respond."

The Cougars are back in action tomorrow night against Southern Virginia at the Marriott Center. Tipoff will be at 7 p.m. MST and the game will be televised live on BYUtv and broadcast on the Cougar IMG Sporst Network on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM.

Game Notes: BYU vs. UALR

After opening the 2014-15 with a 95-90 win over Long Beach State, BYU men's basketball will host Arkansas-Little Rock on Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m. MST in the Marriott Center. The game will be televised live on BYUtv and broadcast live on the Cougar IMG Sports Network on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM.

BYU Cougars (1-0, 0-0 WCC)

• Head Coach: Dave Rose
• Alma Mater: Houston, 1983
• Career Record: 233-78 (10th)
• Record at BYU: Same

Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans (1-0, 0-0 Sun Belt)

• Head Coach: Steve Shields
• Alma Mater: Baylor, 1988
• Career Record: 180-160 (12th)
• Record at UALR: Same

Series Information

• Series Record: First meeting
• Last Meeting: First meeting
• H/A/N: 0-0/0-0/0-0

Game Information

• TV: BYUtv
• TV Talent: Dave McCann (play-by-play), Blaine Fowler (analyst), Spencer Linton (reporter)
• Live Video: www.BYUtvsports.com
• Radio: Cougar IMG Sports Network, KSL 102.7 FM / 1160 AM, BYU Radio - Sirius XM 143
• Radio Talent: Greg Wrubell (play-by-play), Mark Durrant (analyst)
• Live Audio/Stats: BYUcougars.com

BYU storylines

• BYU opens its 10th season with Dave Rose at the helm. Rose is BYU’s all-time leader in winning percentage at 74.9 percent and second in career wins at 233. He has led the Cougars to nine-straight 20-win seasons and nine-straight postseason appearances, including seven NCAA tournament appearances during that stretch.
• Senior guard Tyler Haws, the 2013-14 West Coast Conference Player of the Year, has been named by the coaches to the preseason All-WCC team and the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50. Haws led the league in scoring and was sixth in the NCAA in 2013-14 at 23.2 points per game.
• Junior guard Kyle Collinsworth was selected by the WCC coaches to the preseason All-WCC team. Collinsworth, an All-WCC performer last season, is coming off a torn ACL suffered at the end of last season.

Dave Rose

BYU head coach Dave Rose has led BYU to one of the most successful runs in program history since taking over in 2005. His career record of 233-78 ranks him second in BYU history in total victories and first in winning percentage (.749). Rose has been named conference coach of the year three times, district coach of the year twice, led the Cougars to four conference titles, seven NCAA tournament appearances, two NIT appearances, six 25-win seasons and nine 20-win seasons. In 2010, he led BYU to its first NCAA tournament win in 17 years and the Cougars won at least one postseason game in the next three seasons, including a spot in the Sweet 16 in 2011, a win in the 2012 NCAA tournament and a trip to the NIT semifinals in 2013.

Record Streaks

The Cougars will be looking to keep several program-record streaks intact during 2014-15. Coming into the season,  Dave Rose has led the Cougars to nine-straight 20-win seasons, nine-straight postseason appearances and nine-straight seasons with 10-plus conference victories.

Cougars leading the league

In each of BYU’s three seasons in the WCC, the Cougars have had the leading scorer in all games (Noah Hartsock in 2011-12, Tyler Haws in 2012-13 and 2013-14) and in league games (Brandon Davies in 2011-12, Haws in 2012-13 and 2013-14). Only one other school (Loyola Marymount from 1988-89 to 1991-92) has had the league’s leading scorer in at least three-straight seasons in all games. In league games, a school has had the league’s leading scorer in at least three-straight seasons three other times (San Francisco from 2006-07 to 2008-09, Loyola Marymount from 1982-83 to 1985-86 and Loyola Marymount from 1987-88 to 1991-92).

2014 EA SPORTS Maui Invitational

BYU will play in the 31st annual EA SPORTS™ Maui Invitational® this season. The 2014 Championship Round of the premier early-season college basketball tournament will take place at the Lahaina Civic Center on the beautiful island of Maui from Nov. 24-26.

The Championship Round will feature Arizona, BYU, Kansas State, Missouri, Pittsburgh, Purdue, San Diego Stateand host Chaminade. The seven Division I teams have each appeared in the NCAA Tournament since 2012, with five earning berths in 2014, including Arizona’s run to the Elite Eight. Chaminade has advanced to the previous two NCAA Division II Tournaments.

BYU will take on former Mountain West Conference foe San Diego State in the first round on Monday, Nov. 24, at 9:30 p.m. MST on ESPN2. The Cougars own a 48-23 advantage in the all-time series against the Aztecs, including seven wins in the last nine meetings.

ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will offer live, high-definition television coverage of all 12 Championship Round contests. Games will also be broadcast live on the WatchESPN app and WatchESPN.com. See the complete bracket on page 21 of this release.

Rose vs. the state

BYU basketball coach Dave Rose has compiled a record of 29-7 vs. in-state opponents since taking over in 2005-06. He has the best winning percentage (.806) of any coach vs. in-state teams during that time and is second in wins (Utah State’s Stew Morrill is 30-10 vs. in-state teams since 2005-06, a .750 winning percentage). BYU plays at Utah State on Dec. 2, hosts Utah on Dec. 10 and plays at Weber State on Dec. 13.