POSTGAME - BYU at San Diego State

Post-game Notes

BYU at San Diego State

Feb. 24, 2009

Player Notes

— Jimmer Fredette tied his career high with 28 points, hitting 10-of-19 from the field, 2-of-6 on threes and 6-of-6 from the free throw line. He also set a career high with five steals — all in the second half — while adding four assists and five rebounds.

— Noah Hartsock gave BYU a boost off the bench with seven points and a career-high seven rebounds. Four of the boards were on the offensive glass and he added two steals and one block.

— Jackson Emery did a good job filling the stat sheet, finishing with 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals. His bank three with 50 seconds remaining gave the Cougars a 64-55 lead.

Team Notes

— For the 25th time in 27 games this season, BYU head coach Dave Rose started Jimmer Fredette, Jackson Emery, Lee Cummard, Jonathan Tavernari and Chris Miles. The Cougars are 19-6 with that starting lineup. Lamont Morgan, Jr., started the first game of the season in place of Jimmer Fredette and Charles Abouo started the Wyoming game in Provo in place of Jackson Emery.

— After shooting a season-low 25.8 percent in the first half and scoring a season-low 20 points in the first half BYU exploded for 49 points while shooting 59.3 percent (16-27) in the second half to seal the win at San Diego State. The Cougars hit 5-of-11 from downtown in the second half after hitting just 2-of-9.

— BYU had a solid night at the line, hitting 14-of-17 (82.4 percent) from the charity stripe. BYU his 2-of-2 in the first half and 12-of-15 in the second.

— BYU won at San Diego State for the first time since Jan. 2, 2003. The Aztecs had won five-straight games against he Cougars in San Diego State.

— With the 69-59 victory over San Diego State BYU ended the Aztec’s 10-game home winning streak.

— With the win over San Diego State the Cougars kept their MWC title hopes alive. BYU is now 9-4 in league play, trailing 10-2 Utah, tied with 9-4 New Mexico and ahead of 8-5 San Diego State and 8-5 UNLV. BYU hosts Utah on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the Marriott Center.

— BYU tied a team season high with 12 steals at San Diego State. The Cougars also had 12 steals against Boise State and vs. Utah State.

— The Cougars had their second-highest offensive rebound total with 13 at San Diego State. BYU had 13 offensive rebounds at home against UNLV and 17 against Wake Forest.

Record Watch

— With a three-pointer at the 11:26 mark in the first half at San Diego State, Jonathan Tavernari has hit a three in the last 22 games and in 26-of-27 games this season. With the three Tavernari passed Terrell Lyday (21) for the single-season record for consecutive games with a made three. He is tied with Mark Bigelow for the overall record — 22-consecutive games with a made three. Bigelow set the record over two seasons.

— With nine points at San Diego State on Tuesday, Lee Cummard now has 455 points this season and 1,468 career points. He needs 45 points to pass Kresimir Cosic (1,512) for 10th all-time.

— Jonathan Tavernari scored 11 points against the Rebels to give him 1,098 points for his career. He needs two points to pass Mark Handy for 33rd.

— Jonathan Tavernari hit two threes at San Diego State to bring his career total to 190. He is now 24 threes from passing Mark Bigelow (213) for first. He has 73 threes this season. Tavernari has now hit a three in 22-straight games this season, the most consecutive games in a season with a made three in BYU history and tied for the longest such streak in BYU history (Bigelow hit 22-straight over two seasons).

Game Trends

— BYU trailed 33-20 at the half and 31-45 with 15:40 remaining at San Diego State. From there the Cougars outscored the Aztecs 38-14 to finished the game and win 69-59. Trailing 55-49 BYU put the game away with a 15-0 run. Jackson Emery started it with a three and Jimmer Fredette then scored nine-straight points on two free throws, a layup, a three and two free throws. Emery ended the run with a bank-in three as the shot clock was winding down with 50 seconds left. The Cougars finished the game hitting 5-of-6 from the free throw line.

Post-game Quotes

BYU at San Diego State

Feb. 24, 2009

BYU Head Coach Dave Rose

“It was a really big win for our team. Anytime you can get a win on the road is terrific. We wanted to see what we could do to slow down the game in the second half.”

“Jimmer was terrific tonight. Noah is a great young player that is doing a lot for our team.”

“We got down in the first half and couldn’t get our shots, but we were able to focus on our game in the second half and come out with the win.”

“It was a great win for our team and for our program. We caught a break since Billy White wasn’t playing tonight, but we weren’t scoring in the first half, regardless. At halftime we talked through the mental and emotional things we needed to change and it helped us immensely.”

“Noah gave us a huge lift in the second half and I think he really grew up tonight in a very crucial game. He made some real smart basketball plays tonight. He helped us change the look of our plays and got us playing the way we needed to.”

“The guys have a lot of confidence right now. When you win a game like tonight, you really find out how good you can be.”

“The biggest key for us on Saturday is to come out with that confidence from the beginning.”

BYU Guard Jimmer Fredette

“This is an extremely big game to come down here and win. Coach Rose got on us at halftime as he wasn’t pleased with our game in the first half. He told us to be ourselves and play with passion—he got us fired up.”

“The coaches would tell us that this was an extremely big game and we were definitely psyched up to play this game. It was an extremely big game and an extremely big win.”

“I think how we play in the game starts in practice—we started really slow in our Monday practice, so we started slow tonight. We need to get started better. Practice reflects our games.”

“We were doing a good job getting into the passing lanes and it was a great adjustment for us—luckily they started missing shots so we could get up on them.”

“I sensed right away when they were playing stagnant and getting rattled by the pressure, so we kept building on the lead.”

“Many people say that we’re not great finishers, but this win can means that we can finish. We really turned it around in this game and showed those people that we are here to play. It was a great win but now we need to get ready for Utah.”

“Saturday’s game means a lot for the rest of the season. We’ll have a great crowd and it’s going to be a great game.”

“Noah did a great job coming off the bench. He helped out the team a lot tonight.”