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BYU Basketball came out and did exactly what it was supposed to do against Mississippi Valley State Saturday night, claiming a 91-61 victory over the visiting Delta Devils. The Cougars never trailed, and the game was never tied.
FINAL#BYUhoops #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/URd3dHy5iT
— BYU Basketball (@BYUbasketball) November 12, 2017
Elijah Bryant led all scorers with an impressive 27 points. Eighteen of those came on three pointers. Bryant only missed one shot all night. He was 6-7 from three, 10-11 on field goals, total.
Eli Bryant RN pic.twitter.com/MA2z43Aye2
— Tasha Sabey (@tashalynne19) November 12, 2017
Yoeli Childs, TJ Haws, and Zac Seljaas were the other three Cougars to end up in double digit scoring. Childs displayed some impressive play, including a career-high five blocks. Haws was 3-4 from three, Seljaas was 4-9 from the field. Judging by numbers, Jahshire Hardnett didn’t have all that great of a game, but he played for 25 minutes and did a fine job of running the point when he was in. Bryant, Haws, Seljaas, Childs, and Worthington were the starters.
Yoeli Childs has a 4x5 (at least five of four different statistics): 13 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 blocks. It's the 17th 4x5 in BYU history. The last 4x5 was by Kyle Collinsworth on 3/29/16 vs. Valpo in the NIT #BYUhoops
— BYU Game Notes (@BYUGameNotes) November 12, 2017
Dalton Nixon provided solid play off the bench, rotating in for Luke Worthington and racking up six rebounds. Everyone available to the Cougars made an appearance in the game, due to the comfortable lead the Cougars held throughout the whole second half. Payton Dastrup saw some meaningful minutes and contributed two blocks to the Cougars’ victory.
.@PDastrup with the return to sender.#BYU @BYUbasketball pic.twitter.com/xBDb5gICSS
— BYUtv Sports (@byutvsports) November 12, 2017
One of the most exciting parts of the game for Cougar fans was the impressive and obvious changes on defense. There was renewed effort, active hands, plenty of communication (including plenty of yelling from Heath Schroyer, which could be heard across the arena), etc. BYU held MVSU to just 37 percent from the field and 35 percent from three, while shooting an impressive 58 percent from the field themselves, and 59 percent from three. BYU also pulled down 32 defensive rebounds to MVSU’s 19, and totaled 11 blocks. Mississippi Valley State did not have any blocks.
“Defensively. I think we can guard anyone in the country” - Elijah Bryant
— Greg (@gregcrabb) November 12, 2017
When I blew out my candles on my birthday cake, this is what I asked for.#BYU
BYU may have been a little slow to get started on offense but certainly had it figured out by half time. It should definitely be noted that the Cougars had 20 assists on 33 made baskets. Beautiful.
BYU takes on Princeton in New Jersey next, bringing up what some may consider their first true test. That game will be at 5 p.m. MST on the Ivy League Network (yes, apparently that is in fact a thing).