Six Players Score In Double-Figures As BYU Rolls Through Portland

PROVO, Utah – After suffering an overtime setback against Saint Mary’s, BYU faced a tricky game against a Portland Pilots team. Despite having to travel to their own home game, BYU rolled to a 96-70 win to improve their conference record to 2-1 on the season.

BYU jumped out to a fast start building a 24-2 lead on the Pilots who entered the game feeling confident after an upset win over San Francisco and having a week to prepare. The Cougars maintained that lead for a majority of the game and the game was never in doubt.

Mark Pope says his goal is to have the best locker room in America and he felt that the 24-2 start was indicative of their progress towards that goal. #BYU #BYUhopps #GoCougs

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) January 12, 2020

“I was incredibly proud of this start,” said BYU coach Mark Pope. “You have this one day off and if we had won the Saint Mary’s or lost the Saint Mary’s game, our biggest job was to help our guys rehabilitate our guy’s hearts and souls so they could come out and compete … that start is indicative of the fact that we’re still making great progress and trying to grow the best locker room in America.”

Senior forward Zac Seljaas had a season-high 21 points, just four points shy of the 25 he scored against Central Michigan as a true freshman. Saturday night’s performance from Seljaas conjured up memories from that freshman campaign with how he shot from beyond the arc. Seljaas made all five of his three-point attempts. Without an injured Yoeli Childs –who missed his second game with an injured finger– players such as Seljaas are critical to BYU’s success as they move forward in WCC play.

Pope was proud of his team for how they started the game against Portland after a difficult loss to Saint Mary’s on Thursday night.#BYU #BYUhoops @kslsports pic.twitter.com/1rXDoGOA9o

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) January 12, 2020

“Yoeli is a big emphasis on our team. He has a great presence and so there’s a lot more rotation with me and Dalton and Kolby at the big spot and so we just have to be able to make that position open and contribute and do all those things. It just works and our team comes together with that,” said Seljaas.

Portland cut BYU’s lead to seven points in the second half with 11:22 remaining, but BYU responded after a Mark Pope timeout. The Cougars jumped out to a 14-2 run and never looked back from there.

Six players for BYU scored in double figures and they had 29 assists as they rolled to a 26-point win.

Stats of the Game

14: TJ Haws dished out a career-high 14 assists as part of BYU’s season-high 29 assist night.

50%: BYU shot 50 percent from the three-point range in the win.

23.5%: Portland shot a cold 23.5 percent from three in the loss. The Pilots entered the game as the sixth-best team nationally in threes.

14/11: Dalton Nixon put in his first career double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Tip-Ins

Former BYU running back and wide receiver Ty’Son Williams and Micah Simon were in attendance for BYU’s rout over the Pilots.

Jane’s Golden Girls performed at halftime.