BYU at New Mexico: Games Notes & Quotes

BYU vs. New Mexico

January 27, 2010

The Pit (Albuquerque, New Mexico)

Player Notes

— Jimmer Fredette led all scorers with 27 points, shooting 8-of-21 from the field, 4-of-6 from three and 7-of-7 from the free-throw line, adding 7 assists.

— Fredette has scored 20+ points in 12 games this season and 25+ points in 5 games this season.

— Fredette has also had 6 or more assists in 10 games this year.

— Jonathan Tavernari finished with 17 points, hitting 3 treys, finishing with 4 boards, one block, one steal and one assist.

— Tavernari’s game was his 12th in double-figures and his 6th with at least 3 treys made.

— Noah Hartsock had 7 boards with 10 points. Hartsock’s 32 minutes is a career-high for the sophomore.

— Tyler Haws also had 7 rebounds, adding 7 points, 3 assists and 2 steals.

Team Notes

— This year’s Cougars are tied with the 1987-88 team for the best record through 22 games of any Cougar team, posting a 20-2 mark.

— Hartsock and the Cougars held UNM’s leading scorer, Darington Hobson, to 1-of-11 shooting and 5 points, 10 below is usual average.

— BYU has shot 80% or better from the free throw line in 10 games this season after shooting 16-for-20 against the Lobos.

— BYU owns a 143-59 (.708) record as a ranked team. The Cougars are 15-7 (.682) under Coach Rose when ranked, including 6-1 (.857) this season.

Record Watch

— With 17 points versus New Mexico, Jonathan Tavernari has 1,375 career points, passing Trent Plaisted and tying Roland Minson for 14th all-time. Tavernari is 14 points from passing Andy Toolson for 13th all-time.

— With 27 points versus New Mexico, Jimmer Fredette passed Randy Reid and Joe Richey for 24th on the BYU all-time scoring list. Fredette has 1,190 career points and is 6 points from passing Eldon Brinley for 23rd all-time.

— Tavernari’s 1 steal tonight ties him with Scott Sinek for 3rd all-time with 140 career steals.

Game Trends

— This is the second time these two teams have faced each other ranked. On Feb. 17, 1973, No. 18 New Mexico beat No. 20 BYU 76-66 in Provo.

— BYU took its first lead at 3:06 in the second half off a long three by Fredette to beat the shot clock, giving the Cougars a 64-62 lead.

BYU head coach Dave Rose

"It was a great basketball game and I think the fans got their money’s worth. I thought that we really competed; we competed for 40 minutes."

"The game went back and forth and we were able to get that lead late in the game. When we got that shot, I felt we were right there and where we needed to be, but they made plays in the end."

"We can go back and learn a lot of things from this game. We got our post guys fouls too far away from the basket. We need to make those adjust and really see how we respond to the feeling. It’s been eight weeks (since BYU's last loss)."

"I was pleased with how Jimmer responded in clutch moments. This was a game we easily could win, play over these last three minutes again and maybe it would be different, but tonight they got us. Our players made a valiant effort here."

"The bottom line is we had two teams really guarding hard. Both coaches were substituting in and out. We never really got on top of it like we have in most of our game."

"I thought Noah was terrific. He played a lot of minutes and had a tough cover with Darington Hobson. Offensively Hobson didn’t score the numbers he normally scored."