Game 11 - Cougars and Eagles Face-off in Marriott Center Saturday

Cougars Welcome Eastern Washington for Second Game of HoopTV Las Vegas Classic

BYU men’s basketball (9-1) will host Eastern Washington on Saturday for its second home game of the HoopTV Las Vegas Classic. The Cougars defeated Wagner 77-61 on Thursday in its Las Vegas Classic opener while Eastern Washington fell 73-70 at Nevada. The matchup with Eastern Washington is scheduled to tip at 7 p.m. MST and will be televised live on BYU TV. Saturday’s game can be heard live on KSL Newsradio beginning with the pregame show at 6 p.m. MST on 102.7 FM and 1160 AM or via the Internet at KSL.com.

Up Next

The Cougars travel to Las Vegas for a matchup with Nevada as part of the HoopTV Las Vegas Classic on Tuesday, Dec. 22, at 12 p.m. PST at the Orleans Arena. Listen to the game live on the radio beginning with the pregame show at 11 a.m. PST on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM or via the Internet at KSL.com. The game will be televised live on BYU TV and ESPN Full Court and online at BYU.tv, ESPN360.com and HoopTV.net.

Cougar Quick Hits

— Jimmer Fredette is shooting .919 from the free throw line to lead the Mountain West Conference. He had hit 57-of-60 since missing his first two attempts this season and hit 39-straight at one point, a BYU record.

— Fredette’s streak of double figure scoring ended when he netted nine points against Wagner. He continues to lead the MWC in scoring at 17.7 points per game.

— Since Rose took over as head coach of BYU basketball, the Cougars are 67-3 (.957) in the Marriott Center, including a 53-game winning streak from 2005 to 2008 — the longest in school history. With the win over Wagner, the Cougars have an 12-game home winning streak.

— Two-time MWC Coach of the Year Dave Rose has guided BYU to three-straight MWC regular season titles and three-straight trips to the NCAA Tournament. Under Rose, BYU also has four-straight 20-win seasons and four-straight postseason appearances. At 106-35 (.752) overall, he reached 100 wins faster than any other coach in BYU history. Roger Reid held the previous record, reaching 100 wins in 143 games.

— Senior forward Jonathan Tavernari became BYU’s all-time leader in three-pointers with two treys vs. San Francisco to give him 214. He is now at 217 after hitting two at Fresno State. He is also climbing the lists for points (20th with 1,266) and steals (T6th with 128).

BYU GAME #11 FAST FACTS

BYU (9-1) vs. Eastern Washington (4-6)

Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009

Marriott Center (22,700)

Provo, Utah

7 p.m. MST

Coaches

BYU, Dave Rose (106-35 in fifth season; same overall)

Eastern Washington, Kirk Earlywine (27-43 in third season; 48-51 in fourth season overall)

Series

BYU leads the all-time series 2-0, including a 97-66 win in Provo in 2005

TV

Live on BYU TV (Dave McCann, play-by-play; Andy Toolson, game analysis; Jarom Jordan, courtside reporter)

Radio

KSL Newsradio (102.7 FM/1160 AM and online at KSL.com) and the Cougar Sports Network (6 p.m. MST pregame show — Greg Wrubell, play-by-play; Mark Durrant, game analysis)

Web

Live stats links are available on the basketball schedule page at www.byucougars.com/basketball_m/

Looking at Eastern Washington

Eastern Washington has started the 2009-10 season with a 4-6 record, including 3-2 at home and 1-4 on the road. The Eagles are coming off a 73-70 loss at Nevada as part of the HoopTV Las Vegas Classic. Prior to the loss at Nevada Eastern Washington won 100-97 at home over Seattle in overtime. Forward Mark Dunn leads the team in scoring (13.3 ppg) while shooting a team-best .576 from the field. He also averages 5.0 boards per game, second on the team. Center Brandon Moore is second on the team in scoring (12.4 ppg) and leads the Eagles in rebounding (8.9). Their starting guards Glen Dean and Jeffrey Forbes are both 5-10 and average 10.1 points and 9.0 points per game, respectively. Dean leads the team in assists at 4.3 dimes per game and three-point shooting with 17 makes with a .486 percentage. Benny Valentine provides a boost off the bench, averaging 10.4 points and 3.8 assists. Eastern Washington averages 74.8 points per game while shooting .431 from the field. Opponents average 77.4 points and shoot .461 against the Eagles. Kirk Earlywine is in his third season at Eastern Washington where he is 27-43.

Eastern Washington’s Last Outing — Eagles Lose Nip-and-Tuck Game 73-70

In a game that featured 15 ties and seven lead changes, one shot with 4.3 seconds left determined the winner. Nevada’s Brandon Fields nailed a three-pointer with 4.3 seconds to play to defeat Eastern Washington University 73-70 Thursday (Dec. 17) in Reno, Nev., as the Eagles began a stretch of four games in a span of just seven days. Freshman guard Glen Dean missed a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer as the Eagles fell to 4-6 for the season. Eastern missed four of its last five shots, including three with the game knotted at 70, as Nevada improved to 5-4. It was EWU’s third loss this season against a Western Athletic Conference opponent. Eastern head coach Kirk Earlywine was disappointed with Eastern’s defense on the game-winning shot, as well as EWU’s possession just before that that yielded a pair of misses. Fields, who finished with 17 points and eight rebounds, had missed his last five three-pointers until making his game-winner. Nevada’s Luke Babbitt, who entered the game averaging 18.1 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, made 10-of-18 shots to finish with 29 points and nine rebounds. Dean finished with a double-double for the Eagles with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and had 10 assists with only two turnovers. He equaled the 14th-best recorded assists total in school history, and was the most since Rodney Stuckey had 10 versus Idaho State on Feb. 22, 2007. Freshman Kevin Winford added 14 points, hitting four three-pointers in the second half as he made 5-of-8 shots from the field. Senior forward Mark Dunn, who scored EWU’s first six points of the game, finished with 15 points and a team-high five rebounds. Although the Eagles were out-rebounded 33-29 and had 12 turnovers to Nevada’s nine, Earlywine was pleased with the improved performance against the WAC foe. Eastern lost to Idaho by 22 points and Boise State by 13.

Series Notes

Saturday’s game will be the third meeting between BYU and Eastern Washington — with all three being played at the Marriott Center. The Cougars defeated Eastern Washington 97-66 on Dec. 27, 2005, in Dave Roses’s first season as head coach at BYU. The other meeting came in 1989 and ended with a 96-84 BYU victory.

39-Straight Free Throws

Junior guard Jimmer Fredette set a BYU record with 39-consecutive free throws without missing. Fredette broke the record when he hit his 33rd-consecutive free throw with 16:56 remaining in the second half against Arizona State. The streak started in the second game of the season when he made his last five attempts against Idaho State. For the season he is shooting .919 from the line and has hit 57-of-60 after missing his first two attempts of the season. His career percentage is .867. The previous record was 32 by Michael Smith in 1989.

100 Victories and Counting

With BYU’s 83-65 win over Hawai’i, Dave Rose earned his 100th career victory in his 134th game as BYU’s head coach. He reached the 100-win plateau faster than any coach in BYU history. Roger Reid previously held the record, achieving the mark in 143 games. Below is a list of the BYU head coaches who won at least 100 games, their career record, how many games it took them to reach the milestone and who they defeated for victory number 100.

1,000-Point Scorers

With 14 points vs. Wagner, Jonathan Tavernari has 1,266 career points and is ranked 20th all-time in scoring at BYU. He is 19 points from passing Alan Taylor for 19th all-time.

Downtown Record Watch

Jonathan Tavernari hit two threes vs. San Francisco to become BYU’s all-time leader in career threes, passing Mark Bigelow who had 213 for his career. He is also the leader for career attempts. Tavernari owns the record for threes in a season with 88 in 2007-08. He now has 217 makes and 586 attempts.

Top-10 Pick Pockets

Senior forward Jonathan Tavernari had one steals vs. Wagner to give him 128 for his career. He is tied for sixth all-time in BYU history with former teammate Lee Cummard.

When Jimmer Scores 20...

Jimmer Fredette had 24 points in BYU’s 72-67 win at Fresno State, his fifth 20-point game this season and 13th of his career. BYU is 11-2 when Fredette scores 20 or more and has won the last 10 games in which he has reached the 20-point mark. With three-straight 20-point games to start 2009-10, he matched his longest streak for consecutive games with 20 or more points. The first streak came last season when he had 21 at Utah (Jan. 27, 2009), 28 at home against Wyoming (Jan. 31) and 20 at Air Force (Feb. 3).