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SHOOT IT! Collinsworth's 9th Triple-Double Leads BYU to Victory over Santa Clara

The score of the game never really mattered as BYU held a huge lead for the entire game. With the big second half lead, the Cougar fans in attendance directed their energy to telling the players "shoot it!" when Kyle Collinsworth passed to them, regardless of which player and where they were on the floor. Their effort paid off as Collinsworth reached 10 assists by the end of the game, adding to his impressive collection of triple-doubles.

By James Pigott
Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports

Kyle Collinsworth notched third triple double of the season as the BYU Cougars cruised to a 97-61 victory over the Santa Clara Broncos in their first home game of West Coast Conference play.  Collinsworth finished with 21 points on 7/16 shooting, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. Nick Emery broke out of his recent slump, finishing with 23 points on 9/12 shooting and 5/6 from beyond the arc for his best shooting performance of the season.  Kyle Davis also bounced back from a poor offensive performance against Pacific, finishing with 10 points on 4/7 shooting.  Chase Fischer really struggled with his shot, but still finished with 13 points.  Rounding out the Cougars in double figures was Zac Seljaas, who finished with 14 points despite coming out of the gates slowly before hitting a few threes in garbage time.

BYU did an excellent job defending a potentially dangerous Santa Clara team.  Jared Brownridge came in averaging over 20 points per game for the Broncos but finished with just 16 points on 5/16 shooting.  SCU shot just 34.4% from the field, and didn't have any other double figure scorers.  Part of the Broncos' struggles were just an off shooting night, part of it was BYU's solid defensive rotations, and another factor was Santa Clara's limited depth, with starters Evan Wardlow and Jarvis Pugh out due to injury.

The Broncos never looked comfortable on offense, while it was the exact opposite for BYU, who was able to run in transition and find wide open shooters on passes from Collinsworth.  Corbin Kaufusi lead the team in +/-  with +19 to go with 5 points and 7 rebounds, providing a nice spark off the bench in the second half after Nate Austin was in foul trouble.

BYU did what they were supposed to at home against a struggling Santa Clara team, but they'll get a better test on Saturday against San Francisco, who was up by double digits in the final minutes against Gonzaga last week before losing in overtime to the Zags.  The Cougars will need to play well for a third straight game to keep their positive momentum into next week, when they travel to Gonzaga and look to replicate the success they had last year in Spokane.

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