PROVO — Eric Mika hadn’t touched a basketball in a competitive basketball game in two years before Monday night’s BYU debut during the ESPN Tip-Off Marathon.

You never would’ve known, though.

Mika posted a career-high 26 points and 18 rebounds to lead BYU in an 82-73 win over Princeton in the Cougars’ regular-season opener Monday night in front of 15,926 fans at the Marriott Center.

“I wanted to throw up until about a minute before the game, so it’s about the same as before,” Mika said, joking. “It’s awesome playing in front of that many people who are happy to be out there. They definitely deserve some credit, especially our student section. They got us going.

“I think we definitely fed off the energy of our crowd.”

Mika’s offensive outing was his third career game with at least 20 points, and the first since the Cougars’ 88-78 win over Pacific on Jan. 30, 2014, prior to serving a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Italy.

TJ Haws added 20 points, including three 3-pointers, and Nick Emery supplied 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists for BYU (1-0).

“His ability to make positive plays, and how relentless he is big,” BYU coach Dave Rose said. “You can throw him the ball, and you will get something good most of the time.”

Emery paced a 12-2 run to give the Cougars a 28-22 lead with eight minutes left in the first half. The Cougars then went to the lane, slashing for easy buckets and drawing 10 first-half fouls.

BYU shot the ball almost identical to Princeton — both teams made 13 shots in the first 20 minutes, and the Tigers made six more 3-pointers in the game — but pulled ahead by knocking down 15-straight free throws before Princeton earned its first trip to the charity stripe at a 39-29 deficit with 3:03 left in the first half. The Cougars outshot the Tigers 41-12 at the line, with 30 made free throws.

The Tigers (0-1) cut the lead to two, 61-59, on a pair of free throws by Steven Cook with 8:33 left, and Cook added an and-one to get within one, 62-61, just moments later. But LJ Rose and Emery knocked down back-to-back jumpers with 6:52 remaining to key an 8-2 run as the Cougars pulled away.

Devin Cannady led Princeton with 20 points and six rebounds, and Cook finished with 12 points, four rebounds and three assists.

“I think that’s one of the best teams I’ve seen come through the Marriott Center,” Emery said of Princeton. “They are tough, they are resilient, they never give up, and they play really good basketball. To get that win is a huge confidence-booster for us, and it shows the toughness we learned over the summer.”

Here are a few quick thoughts on BYU’s season-opening win.

Mika went away for 2 years and grew into a man

When we last saw Mika in a regular-season game for BYU, he was averaging 11.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game as a true freshman in 2013-14.

Then he went on a two-year mission for the LDS Church to Italy, and came back to find his basketball groove again.

Mika had a game-high 14 points, seven rebounds and two assists in just 11 minutes of the first half as BYU outscored the Tigers 16-12 in the paint. The 6-foot-10, 230-pound post made use of his size by drawing 13 foul shots and knocking down 12 of them.

“His aggressiveness was so good to see tonight; he was getting to the free-throw line, making free throws, and that got him more confident and more aggressive,” Rose said of Mika. “It was pretty physical down there in the high post area, but he just kept competing. You take a kid who hasn’t played for two years, and jump right into 16,000 fans and a really big night on national TV — but that’s a good way to respond. He’s waited a long time for that game, and he played well.”

Defensively, he also held Princeton post Hans Brase to 11 points, including eight in the first half. Brase, who missed last season with a knee injury, also had three fouls in the first 20 minutes to limit his play. He fouled out with 11 minutes left to play in his first regular-season game in over a year.

BYU outrebounded Princeton 23-17 in the first half and 50-38 in the game.

“A key to the game for us was to attack together, and that’s what we did; they got in foul trouble pretty quick,” Mika said. “That’s definitely helpful for us, and we have the mentality to keep attacking.

“I spent the last six months shooting a lot of free throws, and it paid off tonight.”

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TJ Haws can shoot, if you didn’t know

Another Alpine native had a nice start in his BYU debut as well. Haws scored 17 points for the Cougars, including three 3-pointers — tying Jimmer Fredette for the fifth-most treys in a debut game in BYU history.

The younger brother of Cougar all-time scoring leader Tyler Haws finished with 20 points on 5-of-11 shooting, including 11 points in the first half.

“TJ’s a stud. That guy has a lot of confidence,” Emery said. “Wherever you put him, he’s going to perform. We’re proud of him.

“TJ hit some tough shots in some tough moments.”

This win should hold up in March

Princeton is a good team, and BYU needs wins over quality opponents if it wants to make it back to the NCAA Tournament after last year’s run to the NIT semifinals.

The Tigers were the preseason media pick to win the Ivy League after returning most of last year’s 22-7 squad that went 12-2 in conference play. Henry Caruso averaged 15 points and 6.2 rebounds per game a year ago, and the Cougars kept him below his average at 11 points and seven rebounds Monday night.

“That is a really good basketball team,” Rose said. “They’re really competitive, aggressive, physical and skilled. I’m really proud of our guys for being able to hang in there.

“Hat’s off to Princeton; I wish them the very best, and I think they are going to have a great season.”

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