Provo • Nick Emery will continue to play for BYU in exhibition basketball games this week and next while the school awaits a ruling from the NCAA regarding the junior guard’s eligibility this season, coach Dave Rose said Tuesday night.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported Friday that Emery is the focus of a school investigation over whether he received improper benefits from a BYU booster. BYU said later Friday that after “receiving information about alleged violations of NCAA rules that it “has contacted the NCAA and “has been working to address issues related to Nick Emery’s eligibility.”
Referencing that BYU statement, Rose said he would “love to talk about Nick,” if he could.
“We are anxiously awaiting to see where it goes from here,” Rose said.
Emery played in BYU’s 79-73 win over New Mexico in Albuquerque last Friday night, and is expected to play in Wednesday night’s 7 p.m. exhibition game against Westminster College at the Marriott Center, Rose said.
“That’s the process, yeah,” Rose said. “Then we will see what happens from there.”
Emery was not made available to the media in Tuesday’s scheduled session for interviews, but did practice with the team earlier in the day, often running with the starting five.
“I can say this — I don’t know if I can or not, but I will — the process of what Nick has been through in the spring and the summer and now the fall has been pretty tough to watch from a coach’s point of view,” Rose said. “I am really proud of our team and how they have supported Nick through a pretty difficult time.
“Hopefully we can get some closure, but our guys have got their arms around him and they are helping him through each day. Some days are tougher than others,” Rose continued. “As a coach — I’ve been doing this a long time — I have seen these guys really embrace this kid. Hopefully we get him back to where we know he can be helping this team.”
BYU’s statement last Friday noted that NCAA rules regarding eligibility do not impact a player’s ability to participate in practices, scrimmages or exhibition games.
Rose acknowledged that the investigation has been going on since last spring and said it has been difficult to deal with for all involved.
“Hey, it has been a distraction because it has been tough on Nick,” Rose said. “I am not just talking about what came out last week. I am taking about a very challenging spring and summer for any student, especially [one] his age.”
BYU’s third and final exhibition game is Nov. 8 against Colorado College. The season opener is Nov. 11 against Mississippi Valley State at the Marriott Center.
The Tribune reported the investigation is focused on whether Brandon Tyndall, a Cougar Club member and executive at the Tyndall family’s travel company, paid for trips with Emery to amusement parks in California and concerts in California and Toronto.
Also, the newspaper reported that the vehicle identification number of the Volkswagen Jetta that Emery has been driving is the same vehicle as one leased by Tyndall last summer.
“Every single item, he has paid,” Tyndall told The Tribune last week. “Everything has been billed. There has been absolutely nothing given to him. We’re friends.”
Greeting the Griffins
Wednesday’s game, to be televised by BYUtv, marks the first time BYU and Westminster College, an NCAA Division II program from Salt Lake City, will meet in men’s basketball.
The Griffins are coached by former Salt Lake Community head coach Norm Parrish, who has also been an assistant at Utah. Westminster went 16-8 overall and 16-6 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference last year.
Its second-leading scorer from 2016-17 is Travis Devashrayee, husband of BYU women’s basketball star Cassie Broadhead Devashrayee.
Fundraiser at The Pit
Rose said the win over New Mexico “felt like a middle-December game, a middle-January game,” although it doesn’t count in the season standings. He said The Pit wasn’t close to full, but the crowd was spirited and loud. It was played to raise funds for victims of Hurricane Harvey, which struck his hometown of Houston.
“I heard it raised around $50,000,” Rose said.