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Provo • Kyle Collinsworth is racking up triple-doubles — double digits in three statistical categories in a basketball game — so often this season that even BYU coach Dave Rose is hitting the record books to get a better understanding of the junior point guard's historic versatility.
"I did a little investigating since he got a couple [against Hawaii and Gonzaga] in December," Rose said Saturday after the Cougars walloped San Francisco 99-68 at War Memorial Gymnasium. "I guess he is the only guy this year to have two. And now he has three. I think the record is four."
It is, according to the NCAA record book.
Drexel's Michael Anderson (1986), UC Santa Barbara's Brian Shaw (1988), Cal's Jason Kidd (1994) and Stephane Lasme of UMass (2007) each had four in one season and are tied for the record.
Collinsworth's third came against the Dons when he posted 12 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists and was his second in four games. He proved on Dec. 27 that he could do it against top-level competition, too, posting 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in the 87-80 loss to No. 8 Gonzaga.
"I think that is pretty amazing," Rose said. "He is a really effective player in so many different areas of the game, and he just gets more and more confident in his ability to do that."
Collinsworth's 10th assist Saturday — a pass to Chase Fischer that wasn't initially credited but was added a few minutes later after further review by the official scorekeeper — moved him past Michael Smith for 14th on BYU's career assists list. He now has 325.
Smith, Kresimir Cosic, Danny Ainge and Fred Roberts are the only other Cougars to have recorded triple-doubles, and each did it only once.
"I don't even really know [when he is getting one]," Collinsworth said. "Maybe when I am one away I will hear some things, but I was just trying to play and make my teammates better."
That's happening, as BYU is playing its best basketball of the season.
The road sweep in which they scored 180 points and made 23 three-pointers vaulted the Cougars back into the lead as the country's highest-scoring team. They are averaging 88.3 points per game, slightly better than Central Michigan (87.9) and considerably more than third-place Notre Dame (85.9).
Collinsworth said his versatility in stuffing the stat sheet is important "because when I am able to do that, we are usually in a great position. When I am rebounding, getting assists, getting guys shots, it is good for our team. I am a point guard, so when I can get to double figures in rebounds and assists, I am doing my job."
Before Collinsworth's triple-double against Gonzaga, the last time a player had one in a WCC game was in 1991 when Pepperdine's Doug Christie did it against Saint Mary's in 1991.
Rose said last week that Collinsworth reminds him of former Cougar great Lee Cummard, except that Collinsworth likes playing point guard, while Cummard preferred the wing.
"Kyle wants to be out there [playing point guard]," Rose said. "He loves that spot."
And the coach loves seeing him rack up triple-doubles.
Twitter: @drewjay —
Pepperdine at BYU
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