PLAYER NOTES
Kyle Collinsworth recorded his 12th career triple double with 19 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. It ties his own NCAA single-season record with 6 this season after 6 last year.
He had 9 assists in the first half, a career-best in a first half. It was his 9th game this season with double-digit assists, beating his own record of 8 from last season.
His 12 assists tied Matt Montague for most assists by a BYU player in an NIT game. Collinsworth also passed 250 assists this season (256), extending his own single-season BYU record.
Chase Fischer hit 7 triples for his 14th career game with 5 or more 3-pointers, breaking a 3-way tie between himself, Jimmer Fredette and Jonathan Tavernari for the most in Cougar history. His 7 3-pointers set a new NIT record for BYU.
It was his 6th game this season with 5-plus treys. It was also his 21st game this season with 3-plus 3s. He trails only Jimmer Fredette’s 22 games.
Fischer finished with 27 points to lead BYU in scoring and mark his 17th 20-point game this year and 23rd of his career.
Nick Emery scored in double figures for the 29th time this season with 22 points. It was Emery’s 11th game scoring 20 or more this season, tied for second-most with Shawn Bradley as a freshman at BYU.
It was also his 10th consecutive time and 15th time in the last 16 games. His 29 games in double figures ties Danny Ainge for the most by a Cougar freshman.
Emery also hit 3 3s for his 19th game with 3-plus 3s. He has 90s this season, trailing his brother Jackson Emery for 4th in a single season at BYU (92).
Kyle Davis scored in double figures for the 27th time this season with 11 points.
Nate Austin played in his program record 150th game. He finished with 4 points.
Zac Seljaas scored 8 points and hit 2 triples, giving him 60 this season, 2nd all-time as a freshman at BYU behind teammate Nick Emery.
TEAM NOTES
The Cougars improved their postseason record (NCAA and NIT) under Dave Rose to 8-10 and 4-2 in the NIT. BYU has played in the postseason every year under Rose (11 seasons). The team improves to 16-9 overall in the NIT, including a 9-1 mark at home.
BYU started Kyle Collinsworth, Chase Fischer, Nick Emery, Kyle Davis and Corbin Kaufusi. BYU improves to 10-5 with that starting lineup.
BYU had 4 starters in double figures with Fischer (27), Emery (22), Collinsworth (19) and Davis (11).
The Cougars 97 points tied the third-highest scoring output at home this season and the 8th time BYU has hit 90-plus at home this season and 12th time overall this season. BYU is 12-0 this season when scoring 90 or more.
BYU went on a 21-4 run after UAB had trimmed the lead down to 4 points to go back up 91-70 with 4:47 remaining in the game. Fischer had 10 of the 21 during the run, including 3 treys.
BYU head coach Dave Rose
“Tonight, our team competed well. We played together and shared the ball and we were efficient offensively. We had 25 assists and 38 baskets. I'm happy for them. It was a good win. I'm glad we played well, and we're looking forward to playing on Friday.”
“Congrats to Jerod [UAB head coach] and his team on a terrific season. 26 wins with a 14 or 15 win streak there at the end, my goodness. It's been an incredible season for them. They put a big run on us in the second half and we had a tough time stopping Brown. He put up 27 in the second half. They have a great team coming back with a lot of young guys coming back.”
“I was really impressed with our crowd. We had a great turnout for a quick turnaround from the announcement Sunday. The bottom section was full and they were loud. Our guys responded well to it. I'm appreciative to the fans that showed up. Hopefully, we'll get another good crowd Friday night. It's not often that we get an ACC team to travel out here to play in the Marriott Center.”
“These guys are into this game. They encourage each other and there's a good feel with this team. We were really discouraged coming home on Tuesday last week, but these last two practices were truly like mid-season practices. They're not done playing. Hopefully, we'll get another one in tomorrow.”
BYU guard Chase Fischer
“I just kept shooting. That's basketball and I think that every shooter will tell you that you'll miss good looks. I missed some of those and it was frustrating. Kyle, Nick and Zac found me for some good looks. I was honestly exhausted in that second half because of the pace of the game, but I knew I just had to set my feet on those threes.”
BYU guard Kyle Collinsworth
“It was up and down like a roller coaster ride. We were up by at least 20 at halftime, and suddenly it was within six, and then we were up by 20 again. But it showed us a lot tonight. It showed we're able to weather the storm and that we could build back our lead.”
On the first half alley-oop dunk from Nick Emery:
“It's nice playing at home, because plays like that can give us the momentum. We can feed off the crowd when they react to those.”
UAB Head Coach Jerod Haase
“I was certainly disappointed with our competitiveness in the first half. In the second half, I was proud of the way we came out. I like the way we competed, especially on the defensive end. We did take some bad shots towards the end. This is big time basketball in a big time environment."