BYU men's basketball notebook: Brandon Davies suffers ankle injury during win over Hokies

SALT LAKE CITY — The news wasn't all good for BYU amid its 97-71 win over Atlantic Coast Conference opponent Virginia Tech on Saturday afternoon at EnergySolutions Arena.

While guard Tyler Haws poured in a career-high 42 points, forward Brandon Davies suffered a mild ankle sprain in the second half.

A hobbling Davies was evaluated by the team's medical and training staff and did not return to the game.

It's not what the Cougars needed as they prepare to open West Coast Conference play Thursday at home against Loyola Marymount.

"He sprained his ankle. It's kind of a high ankle sprain on the outside," said coach Dave Rose. "We'll evaluate it again (Sunday) and see what we can do with him next week. Right now, we probably won't know much until Monday."

Davies scored 17 points in 25 minutes against the Hokies.

BYU'S HOME AWAY FROM HOME: The Cougars certainly enjoy a home-court advantage at EnergySolutions Arena.

BYU has 9-2 record all-time in the regular season at the home of the Utah Jazz. The Cougars also defeated Montana here, 85-60, on Nov. 28.

"I love this arena. The court's nice. It's a little bit wider," Haws said. "Our guys play well here."

Announced attendance was 15,684.

Virginia Tech coach James Johnson was impressed with both the atmosphere, and the Cougars.

"It was good. We’ve played in hostile environments before," he said. "They had a great crowd and they were ready to play. You’ve got to give (the Cougars) credit. They played really well, all their guys. They’ve got a really good team. They have good guards, an NBA guard, an NBA post player and then they’ve got good guys coming off the bench. Coach Rose does a great job with them and they were prepared and ready to go."

SHOOTING WOES: To put it mildly, the Hokies struggled shooting the ball against BYU.

Virginia Tech made only 2-of-20 attempts from 3-point territory and hit just 21 of 38 from the free-throw line.

The Hokies have work to do before they open ACC play.

"We’ve got to have more guys playing and playing well on the same night," said Johnson. "We don’t have the luxury of having a couple of guys like Davies and Haws that can carry us. We’ve got to have more guys, multiple guys, playing well on the same night."

NOTES: Utah Jazz general manager and senior vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor and former Jazz coaches Jerry Sloan and Phil Johnson were in attendance Saturday … Former BYU coach Steve Cleveland handled color commentary duties for ESPNU's broadcast of the BYU-Virginia Tech game … There were three straight traveling calls during one stretch in the first half.