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BYU's lone senior Brock Reichner was honored at Saturday's final home game of the regular season for BYU. (BYU Photo/Mark Philbrick)
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POSTGAME NOTES
- True freshman Jackson Emery has started the last four games, his first collegiate starts. He has been joined in the starting five by Rashaun Broadus, Brock Reichner, Keena Young and Trent Plaisted.
- Individual Career Highs: Jimmy Balderson -- 8 rebounds.
- Team Season Highs/Lows: Crowd -- 20,732; Highest Opponent Field Goal Percentage In a Half - .667 (tied).
- BYU retired the No. 11 jersey of Kresimir Cosic at halftime of the New Mexico game. Cosic is just the second Cougar basketball player to have his jersey retired, joining Danny Ainge. Neither Cosic's No. 11 or Ainge's No. 22 are available for players to wear in the future.
- BYU's lone senior Brock Reichner was honored prior to the start of the Cougars' final home game of the season. Reichner is second on the team in scoring this year and has been an integral part of BYU's success this season.
- With the win the Cougars finished the season in a second-place tie in the Mountain West Conference, joining Air Force at 12-4 in league play. BYU was picked to finish last in the preseason media poll.
- The Cougars will be a No. 3 seed heading into next week's MWC Tournament. BYU tied with Air Force for second in the league and split the season series with the Falcons but lost the tiebreak by virtue of splitting the season series with No. 4 seed UNLV while the Falcons swept the Rebels. The Cougars will play Utah at 10 p.m. on Thursday in the first round.
- BYU achieved its 29th 20-win season with the victory over New Mexico, finishing the regular season at 20-7.
- The Cougars are now 12-0 when holding opponents under 70 points and 19-0 when leading with one minute remaining in the game.
- BYU's victory in its final home game of the regular season improved the Cougars' homecourt winning streak to 14 games. BYU entered the game ninth in the nation in consecutive home wins.
- The Cougars have now won their last six games, the first time they have won six straight since the 2003-04 season when they did it twice. The winning streak is among the top 10 in the nation. BYU has also won 10 of its last 11 games.
- The Cougars had at least five players score in double figures for the eighth time this season.
- Balderson was the first Cougar to reach double figures on the night with a three-pointer at the 14:05 mark to give BYU a 46-42 lead and give him 12 points. Balderson has scored in double figures in 10 of BYU's last 11 games, all Cougar wins. He also made nine straight three-point attempts over the last five games, including his first two against New Mexico, before missing one in the second half against the Lobos.
- The Cougars took their first lead of the game 41-39 at the 16:13 mark of the second half on a three-pointer from Jimmy Balderson.
Click here to read about Kresimir Cosic's jersey retirement ceremony
POSTGAME QUOTES
BYU Head Coach Dave Rose:
"I give a lot of credit to our guys. They took their best shot, hung in there and kept their composure."
"Jimmy (Balderson) was terrific. He hit some big shots."
"This is the way games are supposed to be played in March."
"This was a very different feeling to our players with everything surrounding our team and the university right now. When it was time to win though, our guys stepped up and were ready."
"Our effort was good all night. We settled into our game much better the second half though."
New Mexico Coach Ritchie McKay:
"We needed more offensive consistency tonight, and we did not perform as well as we would have liked.
"I haven't analyzed BYU very much, but they seem to be right where we were last year."
"They're a tough team and I wouldn't want to play them [in the tournament]."
Click here to read quotes from Kresimir Cosic's jersey retirement ceremony
