BYU-Pacific postgame notes & quotes

STOCKTON, Calif. — The following notes are from BYU's 80-52 win over Pacific on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, at the Alex G. Spanos Center.

 ALL-TIME SERIES RESULTS: BYU leads 12-6

TEAM NOTES

Assists-to-Turnover Ratio

Pacific had 12 assists and 12 turnovers in the game. BYU had 17 assists and 10 turnovers, including 12 assists coming from BYU starting guards Alex Barcello and Brandon Averette. The two combined for only two turnovers. BYU head coach Mark Pope pointed to the assist-to-turnover ration from Barcello and Averette as the key to the game.

Even Two-Point and Three-Point Distribution and Success

BYU was 13-for-27 in two-point field goals and 13-for-27 in three-point field goals against Pacific.

Road Warriors

BYU has won its last two road games by a combined 73 points.

Still No Back-to-Back Losses

BYU has still not lost two consecutive games in the Mark Pope era.

PLAYER NOTES

Caleb Lohner

Lohner had a career night with a season-high 19 points to lead all scorers and season-high five 3-pointers. He had nine rebounds, one off of what would’ve been his first career double-double.

Alex Barcello

Barcello was right at his average with 15 points. He also had five assists, three rebounds and three steals.

Trevin Knell

Knell came off the bench and scored a career-high 15 points. He was 4-for-6 from beyond the arc and had a four-point play.

Notable career highs/career firsts

Career-high points: Lohner (19), Knell (15)

Career-high 3-pointers: Lohner (5)

Career-high assists: Averette (7, tied)

COACH AND PLAYER QUOTES

Mark Pope

On his team's performance tonight ...

"I'm so incredibly proud. What they've done in the last 10 days is incredibly hard. There's been a huge emphasis on three key areas where we felt like we were falling short: physicality, communication and protecting the ball. The guys just excelled in all three of those areas tonight against a really good team."

On Caleb Lohner's performance ...

“He’s a special young man. As he goes through his career, the whole country is going to get to know him. He’s obviously spectacular on the court. He’s learning and growing every day, and as a human being off the court, he’s actually 10 times more fascinating. Super proud of him tonight. We’ve been anticipating he would make a jump here toward the end of the season, and he certainly is doing that.”

On the 13 BYU 3-pointers ...

"I thought Trevin was excellent tonight. He came in a little earlier in the rotation than normal because of Gideon’s foul trouble and I thought he responded really well. I love Trev when he’s got a chip on his shoulder and wants to fight out there. That’s when he performs at his best."

On Brandon Averette and Alex Barcello ...

"Pacific guards you, it’s what they do. They’re really, really physical. To see Alex and Brandon go 12-2 in assists to turnovers was, I thought, 100 percent the key to the game on the stat sheet. They took a pounding. This is what Pacific does, they just beat you up over and over again. There have been some great guards that have played against this team and struggled."

Caleb Lohner

On what he envisioned from his team coming off a 10-day layoff …

“This was exactly what I envisioned. These last 10 days of not playing, we’ve been working so hard. I think a lot of teams in the country right now aren’t practicing as hard. There are all these big gaps of not playing games. I think we really took advantage of that time, and we just got better. We figured out what we needed to do better. I think it showed on the court tonight.”

On feeling it from beyond the arc …

“It just felt good. From the first one, to the second one, progressively I just got more and more confidence. I was shooting the ball well, and it was a fun night.”

On holding Pacific’s biggest scoring threat as of late Jeremiah Bailey to only two points ...

“We were pretty mindful. That was a hot topic coming into this week’s practice, figuring out ways we could stop him, because he’s been rolling. I think we did a great job of that as a team. The score shows that we came out, did our defensive assignments and just played basketball.”

On what’s next for this team as the regular season schedule winds down …

“We’re just getting better and better and better and better. We’re working hard. We’re finding little things every day to improve, even the smallest things.”

On his experience as a freshman this season …

“I’m blessed to be here. I can’t ask for anything else. I’ve learned a ton. I’ve developed this relationship with the team. I’m all smiles.”