BYU vs. Southern: Games Notes & Quotes

BYU vs. Southern

Nov. 24, 2009

Marriott Center (Provo, UT)

The 56-point win over Southern was the largest margin of victory ever for BYU over a Division I school. It was also the largest win since the Cougars defeated Division II Western Oregon, 102-40, on 12/22/06 and the second-largest win since the 1930s.

Player Notes

— Dating back to last season, with 12 points against Southern, Jimmer Fredette has now scored in double figures in 18 consecutive games. The last Cougar with at least 18 games in a row in double figures was Travis Hansen during the 2002-03 season with 21 games.

— Jackson Emery hit 3-of-4 on threes in the first 5 minutes of the game. Fredette assisted on all three.

— Fredette recorded 5 assists on BYU’s first 7 baskets. Fredette accounted for 16 of the Cougars’ first 19 points, assisting on 5 shots for 14 points and hitting a trey of his own.

— Michael Loyd, Jr., hit two three-pointers, bringing him to seven on the season, third-most on the team. Loyd leads the team with a .700 (7-10) shooting percentage from downtown.

— Jimmer Fredette recorded the first double-double for any Cougar on the season, scoring 12 points and tying his career-high of 10 assists. It is Fredette’s second double-double since last season at Utah. Fredette also had four steals and three rebounds in 18 minutes.

— Chris Miles netted a season-high 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting along with 5 rebounds, also a season-high.

— Lamont Morgan, Jr., set a new career high with 7 assists.

Team Notes

— Four of the Cougars’ first 6 made field goals were three-pointers.

— As a team, BYU had 7 assists on its first 9 baskets.

— 11 players played in the first half and 10 of them score.

— All 13 players scored and had at least one rebound for the Cougars.

— BYU led by 35 at halftime, biggest halftime in at least a decade.

— BYU’s 27 assists are the most as a team since 28 against Colorado State last season on Feb. 11, 2009.

— BYU’s 13 three-pointers are the most since the Cougars hit 12 treys vs. Rice on 11/21/08.

— BYU scored 40 points off of 22 Jaguar turnovers.

Record Watch

— BYU tied a team single-game record with 17 steals against Southern. BYU also had 17 steals vs. James Madison in 1990 and at Colorado State in 2006.

— With 7 attempts tonight, Jonathan Tavernari is now the BYU career leader in three-pointers attempted with 563. Mark Bigelow’s 559 was the previous record.

— After making 2 three-pointers tonight, Tavernari has 210 for his career, three off the mark of 213 also by Bigelow.

— Tavernari’s 2 steals tonight give him 121, four away from passing Matt Montague for 7th all-time.

— Tavernari passed Eldon Brinley for 22nd and is now tied with Gary Trost for 21st on the all-time scoring list. Tavernari has 1,205 career points.

Game Trends

— It didn’t take long for BYU’s first run, opening an 8-6 lead into 23-8, a 15-2 run over the course of 3:02.

— BYU went on a 24-6 run over the last 5:36 of the half, including a string of 14 unanswered points (jumping from 33-16 to a 47-16 lead).

BYU Head Coach Dave Rose

“I thought we played really well tonight. I think it was our best performance so far this season. We shared the ball well, controlled the tempo and had good shot selection. Everyone was able to score tonight and we were able get them to turn the ball over and we have 25 points off turnovers in the first half because we were able to score in transition.”

On playing with a big lead: “It’s most important in games like these that you worry about your team and how you want them to play regardless of the score.”

On Chris Miles: “Chris came out confident tonight and took advantage of his size. His numbers tonight were what we had become accustomed to from him last season. He rebounded well and was confident in his scoring.”

On competition within team for minutes: “The competition on this team is really good. I have been especially pleased with our second unit and the level of competition they have brought to practice the last ten days.”

On Jimmer Fredette: “I was really happy with Jimmer’s sharing of the ball tonight. So many teams are going to focus on him and expect him to score but tonight he delivered the ball well in addition to scoring.”

On Abouo coming off the bench: “Charles gave us a good lift off the bench in past games and we just want to see what happens when he comes off the bench. We aren’t that worried about it right now because regardless of who is playing we are getting great numbers from that position. With Charles and Tyler we haven’t missed a beat after the loss of Lee Cummard last season. We haven’t decided who is going to get the majority of the minutes in that position yet. I think it will depend on individual match-ups in games and the start the players get off to in the beginning of this season.”

Southern Head Coach Rob Spivery

“We are very tired as a team. We have been gone for over a week, and this trip has really taken a toll on us as a team. We started strong against Baylor, but have really struggled here in Utah. We have just not played as competitive as we should have in the last two games.”

“I think we have gone through the four toughest games on our schedule. But I am disappointed in the way we have competed the last few games. BYU does everything they do well, and they are coached very well. But we just did not compete in this game.”

“Defensively we just were not there tonight. Offensively we did not execute what we show during practice. We are just very tired, and need to get out team some rest.”