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PROVO — With ailing star Kyle Collinsworth on the bench with the flu, the BYU men’s basketball team needed a new leader to step up in its National Invitation Tournament quarterfinal Tuesday night in the Marriott Center.
And a freshman took up the mantle.
Just a year removed from leading Bountiful High to a Class 4A state title, Zac Seljaas poured in 19 points, including five 3-pointers, to lead BYU past Creighton 88-82 and into the NIT semifinals in New York City.
“With Kyle out, I knew I had to step up,” said Seljaas, who made 5 of 6 shots, all from behind the arc. “It was a big shoe to fill, but it was a time to get in and get going and then have Kyle come in and help as much as he can.”
Kyle Davis added 18 points and freshman Nick Emery added 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists for BYU (26-10), which advanced to face Valparaiso in next week’s semifinals at Madison Square Garden.
“KC is our best player, our leader and the (WCC) player of the year. We all just rallied around him,” Davis said. “We said Kyle won’t be like he is normally, and we just tried to do it for him. He’s done so much for us all season. It was a good opportunity for us to pay him back a little bit. And he played really well, considering how sick he was.”
For his part, Collinsworth still played well. The senior put together 10 points, five rebounds and four assists in only 20 minutes — his first non-start with BYU since 2011. Fellow senior Chase Fischer added 15 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals, and teammate Corbin Kaufusi totaled seven points and three blocked shots — including each of BYU’s first five points.
Geoffrey Groselle led the Bluejays with 22 points and eight rebounds, but was also limited by foul trouble for much of the second half. Cole Huff added 22 points and eight rebounds for Creighton (20-15), and teammate Maurice Watson Jr. supplied nine points and eight assists.
“Kyle’s picked this team up so many times, and to be able to have these other guys pick him up and help him through to another game, it says a lot about the group, camaraderie and the chemistry of our guys,” BYU coach Dave Rose said.
BYU led for only 28 seconds of the first half, but they were the final 28 seconds en route to a 38-37 halftime advantage. Davis’ dunk on a feed from Emery gave the Cougars their first lead of the game in the half’s final minute, and Seljaas scored eight of BYU’s final 12 points going into the locker room.
The freshman from Bountiful High finished with 11 points in the first half, including three 3-pointers that helped BYU come back from an awful start.
“Zac Seljaas was really good for us; he had a great game,” Rose said. “We got in at halftime and realized we could get a little bit out of Kyle. He wasn’t going to be nearly as active defensively, but he could facilitate our offense as needed.”
Huff had a game-high 12 points for Creighton in the first half, but did not score in the final 9:50 for the Jays. The 6-foot-8 junior had just six points in the final 29 minutes of game time for the Bluejays.
Still, BYU struggled early, shooting under 30 percent from the field in the opening eight minutes and falling behind 15-6 on Huff’s 3-pointer with 13:51 on the clock.
From there, every time the Cougars made a run, Creighton was ready with a response.
“I think we were trying to find our groove a little bit without Kyle out there,” said Davis, who scored 10 of his 18 points in the first half. “They’re a good defensive team, but once we caught our stride and get into the spots we wanted, we just started rolling. It turned out well for us.”
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The Bluejays used an 8-0 run to take a 27-15 lead with 8:22 left in the half, highlighted by Huff’s long stepback upper to set up the run. BYU pulled within eight on Kyle Davis’ three-point play just over a minute later, and the Cougars pulled within three on back-to-back 3-pointers from the angle by Seljaas with 2:10 left in the half.
Seljaas and Davis combined for a 13-0 run late in the first half to take the lead, and the Cougars never trailed again.
“I was just shooting it,” Seljaas said. “After practice, I’m always shooting and getting shots up to get the rhythm down. Once I get my opportunity, I shoot it. When Kyle (Davis) gets his shots down there, it helps. We all are great shooters all around.
BYU opened the half shooting 63 percent from the field, and used an 8-2 run to take a 52-47 advantage on Fischer’s layup with 14:27 on the clock. Emery knocked down the Cougars’ seventh 3-pointer to give BYU a 67-52 with 9:55 left in the game, and the Cougars kept a double-digit lead for much of the second half until holding off Creighton's late rally in the final minutes.
Rose credited much of the win to the near-capacity crowd of 15,525 in the boisterous Marriott Center.
“Another great crowd — my goodness,” he said. “From the very first tip, the atmosphere in there was just tremendous. I think our guys felt it.
Contributing: Brittany Copeland
