This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Provo • BYU guard Matt Carlino showed up with a short, military style haircut on Saturday night.
Then he shredded the Santa Clara Broncos.
The Cougars' freshman guard, who transferred from UCLA, scored 21 points on 7 of 12 shooting and added eight assists with just two turnovers in BYU's 95-78 win.
Carlino said he didn't notice the fact that several Cougars visited the barbershop recently, but it was hard to ignore how he stared at the Santa Clara bench every time he made a shot in the first half. What was up with that?
"I don't know what happened, what got into me," he said. "I had known their coach from UCLA, so I wanted to … I was happy to play in this game."
BYU coach Dave Rose said after last Saturday's win over San Francisco, when Carlino scored 12 points and had four assists, that it was his best game to date, but he really busted out against the Broncos.
"There will be some nights where he becomes a lot more of a distributor, and there will be some nights where he needs to score, and tonight was a night we needed him to score," Rose said.
"As he plays with us, he will be able to understand and have a feel for that. But his line was great. ... I mean, he played terrific. He had an outstanding game."
Carlino said his improvement has mirrored the team's improvement.
"We have all been getting more comfortable playing with each other. I think people who have watched us can see that," he said.
Twitter: @drewjay —
Matt Carlino's line
FG-A 3-A FT-A Pts Ast TO Stl Reb
7-12 3-6 4-6 21 8 2 1 3