1. After kind of a slow start BYU put things together in the 2nd half. 58 points in the 2nd half to pull away and win by 28. Portland is winless in the WCC and definitely undersized compared to BYU. It didn’t help them that their primary big guy spent most of the game on the bench with foul trouble and then quickly fouled out when he came back into the game.

2. Overall shooting by BYU was great. They were 36/63 on FGs (57%), 14/33 (42%) from 3, and 9/12 (75%) from the charity stripe. Knell and Johnson were both cold in the first half but heated up in the 2nd half. I love Johnson’s stroke from outside. Both Haarms (9/9) and Harward (5/5) were perfect from the field.

3. 28 assists by the team was great. Haarms was the biggest beneficiary. I loved how various players would drive and then dish or lob to Haarms inside.

4. Looking at the box score I was a little surprised to see that BYU only had 13 turnovers. They had a couple of ugly stretches handling the ball, but overall did a pretty good job.

5. BYU nearly doubled up the Pilots on rebounds (43 to 22). Given their depth and significant size advantage, it would have been concerning if BYU didn’t have a big edge on the boards.

6. Portland hit 11 3-pointers which was a bit concerning to me. BYU was slow on closing out on the outside shooters, especially in the 1st half. The Pilots shot 33 so their overall % was decent but not great. They should have disallowed that 1 3-pointer by Ali where he was fouled and ended up getting a 4-point play because he didn’t call bank on what looked to be a brick. By the way, speaking of Ali, what was the technical he got for?

7. I just want to comment specifically about 3 BYU players tonight:

--Haarms. He had a great game. He was definitely a man among boys tonight. Everything he shot tonight went in—FGs, 3s, FTs. In addition to his 26 points he also had 6 rebounds and 3 blocks.

--Lohner. I was very impressed with Lohner’s game tonight. He seemed very confident and very much under control. 9 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. That’s a great line. And he’s only a freshman.

--Harding. I thought he played really well tonight. 9 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3/5 from the 3-point line. He looked like his old self. Very happy to see him play so well.

I REALLY wish they would allow some fans in the Marriott Center for the games. It would make a huge difference. It seems to me like the team is starting to figure out how to play better together and to leverage Haarms’ height. Loved the inside passes to him and Harward. BYU is deep and talented. It makes it difficult for other teams because on a particular night anyone of 10 players could cause them problems.

Very nice win against an outmatched, mediocre team. BYU won by 28. That’s what they should do against a team like Portland. Saturday’s game against Pepperdine will be a lot tougher.

Go Cougars!