BYU at Utah State: Game Notes and Quotes

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Player Notes

• Charles Abouo scored the first points of the 2011-12 season with a three pointer to start off the game. Abouo finished with 16 points on 4 of 6 shooting.
• Hartsock started the game 2 of 2 from the field with two easy layups. Hartsock scored 18 on 8 of 13 shooting.
• After missing his first shot of the game, Rogers knocked down his next three in a row. Rogers finished with 7 points in the game.
• Abouo was the only player to hit a three in the game, drilling three of them on 3 of 5 shooting from behind the arc. The rest of the team was 0 for 9 from deep range.
• Hartsock has been good in season openers. Against the Aggies, Hartsock led BYU with 18 points and last season against Fresno State in the season opener scored 21 points.

Team Notes

• Head coach Dave Rose started Charles Abouo, Brock Zylstra, Stephen Rogers, Noah Hartsock and Brandon Davies for the season opener against Utah State.
• The first first points of the 2011-12 season came on a three pointer from Charles Abouo.
• BYU came out in the second half hot, knocking down their first 4 shots and outscoring the Aggies 9-5 to take a 37-35 lead with 15:51 left in the game.
• The Cougars took their largest lead of the game at 4 points with a made free throw from Davies at the 11:03 mark to give BYU a 42-38 lead.
• BYU dropped its first season opener in 4 years. The Cougars drop to 5-2 under Coach Rose in season openers and snap a 4-game road-opener win streak.
• 3 different Cougars scored their first career points. Craig Cusick, Josh Sharp and Nate Austin all recorded 2 points apiece.
• Three players scored in double figures. Hartsock led with 18 points, Abouo scored 16 and Davies added 13 points.

Game Trends

• BYU opened the game pacing the Aggies and kept the score at 8-8 five minutes into the game. Abouo got the scoring started with a three pointer and Rogers added a free throw make and a two-pointer while Noah Hartsock added a layup.
• The Cougars scored their first 6 points three different ways. First with a three pointer from Abouo, then with a free throw from Rogers and followed that with a layup from Hartsock.
• BYU’s defense held the Aggies scoreless for a stretch of 4:20. The Cougars limited Utah State to 0 for 3 shooting and caused three turnovers during the period.
• The first half went back and forth with 5 lead changes and 4 ties. Neither team had a lead larger than 4 points. The Aggies took a 4 point lead while BYU had no more than a 3 point lead at any time.
• After the Aggies held a 13-6 advantage in fouls in the first half, the calls evened up in the second half. At the 10:12 mark, BYU had just 3 fouls compared to Utah State’s 10.
• BYU cut the Aggies lead of 11 points at the 2:35 mark down to five with under one minute remaining but could not trim it any more.