LAHAINA, Hawaii — At least for now, BYU has earned exactly what it wanted.
By pulling away from UCLA late in the second half in the first round of the Maui Invitational Monday night and earning a decisive 78-63 victory, the Cougars set themselves up a primetime matchup on national television in the tournament semifinals against No. 4 Kansas.
“This is a fun gym to play in. These rims are soft and it feels like a high school gym. We feel like we could get great shots. We wanted to step up and take those shots and they’re going to fall for us.” — BYU guard Jake Toolson
“Kansas is a great program. They have unbelievable size,” said BYU coach Mark Pope. “They’re long and physical and capable of guarding. So they got a great coach and a great coaching staff. So that’s why you come to this tournament. If we didn’t want a chance at Kansas we could have gone to some mid-major tournament somewhere. But this is where we want to be and we are learning things about ourselves every day.”
“I just want to keep doing this. It was a great feel out there tonight. This is one of the best tournaments out there, so, if not the best,” said guard Jake Toolson, who poured in a game-high 20 points against the Bruins. “So we got another challenge ahead of us tomorrow but all of us are really excited about it and we’re going to have another chance at it tomorrow.”
BYU and Kansas meet Tuesday (8:30 p.m. MST, ESPN).
The Jayhawks’ (4-1) only loss came in the season-opener against Duke, which is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation.
While Kansas crushed Chaminade earlier Monday, 93-63, BYU shot a sizzling 62 percent from the field against the Bruins before a crowd of 2,400 at the Lahaina Civic Center.
Toolson unleashed his repertoire of crafty moves in the paint and he also knocked down three 3-pointers, finishing with a game-high 20 points. TJ Haws ended up with 15 points, including 10 over the final 10 minutes of the game.
BYU enjoyed balanced contributions with Zac Seljaas dropping in nine points and collecting a game-high 11 rebounds; Kolby Lee recording 13 points; Dalton Nixon adding eight; and Alex Barcello chipping in nine points and five assists.
“We were trying to take great shots. Tonight, we moved the ball really well,” Haws said. “We made them guard us as we moved the ball from side to side. We kept our dribble alive, which helped space out the floor and guys stepped up and made big shots.”
“This is a fun gym to play in. These rims are soft and it feels like a high school gym,” Toolson said. “We feel like we could get great shots. We wanted to step up and take those shots and they’re going to fall for us.”
BYU improved to 4-2 on the season while UCLA fell to 4-2.
Defensively, BYU held UCLA’s 6-foot-10 sophomore, Jalen Hill, who entered Monday night averaging 15.2 points and nine rebounds per game, to eight points and two boards. The Cougars outscored the Bruins in the paint, 40-32.
The Cougars trailed 52-51 with 10 minutes remaining when they went on a tear, scoring 10 consecutive points as part of a 16-4 run that was capped by a putback by Seljaas with 4:16 remaining to give the Cougars a 67-58 lead.
But BYU wasn’t done beating up on the Bruins. The Cougars added an 11-0 run over the next two minutes as they went up 78-58 with 1:54 remaining.
Over the final 10 minutes, BYU outscored UCLA, 27-11.
The Cougars turned in a strong first-half performance, highlighted by 65 percent shooting from the field (15 of 23) and 50 percent from 3-point range (5 of 10).
Midway through the half, the Cougars seized a six-point lead, 20-14, after three consecutive 3-pointers by Toolson, Seljaas and Haws.
“That’s going to be a blast. That’s an incredible program. They have so much history. It’s going to be so much fun.” — BYU guard TJ Haws, on facing Kansas on Tuesday
Meanwhile, Lee made contributions inside by scoring a first-half career-high of nine points.
After UCLA took a 28-27 lead with four minutes remaining in the first half, BYU answered with a 7-0 run on a Nixon putback, a Barcello jumper and a 3-pointer by Toolson, giving the Cougars a 34-28 advantage.
BYU went into the locker room at halftime with a 36-32 lead.
Late in the second half, the Cougars took control. And now they got a shot at a top-5 opponent in Kansas.
“That’s going to be a blast. That’s an incredible program. They have so much history,” Haws said. “It’s going to be so much fun. The environment’s going to be great tomorrow and we’re really looking forward to it. It’s going to be a fun night.”
TIP-INS: This marks the Cougars’ fourth trip to the Maui invitational and the first appearance since 2014 … Boston Celtics general manager and president of basketball operations Danny Ainge attended Monday night’s game. The former BYU star is Jake Toolson’s uncle … BYU baseball coach Mike Littlewood was also in attendance.