BYU guard Kyle Collinsworth, right, battles Loyola Marymount guard David Humphries for the ball during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Los Angeles, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015.
Alex Gallardo, FR170211 AP
LOS ANGELES — From the outset Saturday afternoon at Gersten Pavilion, it appeared it would be a special game for BYU’s Kyle Collinsworth.
While the junior guard scored the Cougars’ first six points against Loyola Marymount, some LMU students on the front row, who apparently had done their homework, taunted Collinsworth by yelling, “You won’t get a triple-double today!”
But they would be wrong.
Collinsworth broke a single-season NCAA record with his fifth triple-double of the year as BYU blasted the Lions, 87-68, before a crowd of 3,232.
It was the kind of performance the Cougars (18-8, 8-5) needed, less than 48 hours after a gut-wrenching loss at Pepperdine.
“When he’s got that look in his eye, like he did tonight, he was dialed in from the very first possession, and it never left,” said coach Dave Rose.
Collinsworth tied his career high with 23 points, grabbed 12 rebounds (six offensive boards) and dished out 10 assists. He also tallied three steals.
As good as the versatile Collinsworth is at racking up triple-doubles, he knows he can’t exactly plan for it.
“These are tough. It depends on if guys are making shots,” he said. “I can control rebounding and scoring, but even with rebounding, the ball doesn’t bounce your way. I just try to play with a great pace, get in the lane and find my teammates. Credit to my teammates. We have such great shooters. I’ve never played with such great shooters. It’s an honor to play with all of my teammates.”
Midway through the second half, Collinsworth was inching closer to the record, but needed one more assist. With 6:54 left in the game, Collinsworth passed the ball to Skyler Halford, who drained a 3-pointer to give Collinsworth his 10th assist and the NCAA record.
The record-breaking triple-double came a week after he sat out with a back injury against San Francisco, and 11 months after undergoing ACL surgery on his knee.
“We subbed him a couple of times and it’s been a while since he’s asked me to sub him because he felt like he was fatigued to the point where he needed a blow,” Rose said. “And that’s a good sign. You get to that spot where you’re playing that hard, that really helps our team.”
Collinsworth eclipsed Jason Kidd (California), Stephane Lasme (UMass) and Michael Anderson (Drexel), who each had four triple-doubles in a single season.
The next NCAA record watch for Collinsworth? Six career triple-doubles. That marks belongs to Anderson and some guy named Shaquille O’Neal from Louisiana State.
The Cougars celebrated Collinsworth’s feat in the locker room after the game.
“There was a little jug of ice and water bottles and they dumped them on me,” Collinsworth said. “It was pretty funny. There’s a bunch of ice and water bottles coming down on my head.”
Tyler Haws scored 22 points while Halford came off the bench to chip in 18.
Collinsworth played a team-high 36 minutes and was strong the whole game.
“He’s a stud,” said forward Josh Sharp. “When he’s on it, he’s one of the best players in the country. He makes our team extremely good.”
The Cougars dominated the glass, outrebounding the Lions 42-25. Sharp grabbed seven rebounds while Haws and Corbin Kaufusi each recorded six and Isaac Neilson had three.
“We rebounded well,” Collinsworth said. “In the second half, we got stops. We just made big plays. We got a bunch of offensive rebounds down the stretch. We just made big plays that we haven’t been making.”
BYU led at halftime, 40-30, and Rose knew his team needed a good start to the second half knowing that the Cougars squandered a 13-point advantage at intermission at Pepperdine.
But things didn’t go BYU’s way the first part of the second half, as LMU cut the deficit to 42-36.
“In the first three possessions of the second half, they scored eight points,” Rose said. “We got a timeout. … We had talked about it at halftime. We knew that was going to be the way the half was going to start. We needed stops. We couldn’t just try to outscore them. After that timeout, we were a lot more dialed in. We had active hands and good rebounding position. Kyle and Josh were terrific on the boards."
Rose liked the way his players responded after the bitter setback at Pepperdine.
"I’m happy for them," he said. "They were trying to make things better after the other night. They found a way to do it.”
BYU returns home next week with games against Saint Mary’s Thursday and Pacific Saturday.
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