Game 28 - Cougars at Cowboys on Saturday

Cougars at Wyoming on Saturday

No. 16/14 BYU men’s basketball (24-3, 9-2 MWC) plays its second-straight Mountain West Conference road game when the Cougars play at Wyoming on Saturday, Feb. 20, at 4 p.m. MST. The game can be heard live on KSL Newsradio beginning with the pregame show at 3 p.m. MST on 102.7 FM and 1160 AM or via the Internet at KSL.com. The game will be televised live on The Mtn.

Up Next

The Cougars play back-to-back home games starting with San Diego State on Wednesday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m. MST. Listen to the game live on the radio beginning with the pregame show at 6 p.m. MST on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM or via the Internet at KSL.com. The game will be televised live on CBS College Sports.

Cougar Quick Hits

— Jimmer Fredette set BYU single-game records with 49 points and nine threes against Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl Classic in Tucson, Ariz., at the McKale Center. BYU handed Arizona its worst loss at the McKale Center, 99-69.

— BYU’s 15-game winning streak, it’s second-longest winning streak in school history ended on Jan. 27 at New Mexico, 76-72.

— Fredette is 18th all-time in scoring at BYU with 1,318 career points. He leads the conference in scoring at 21.5 points per game. He is also 4th at BYU in career threes (154), 12th in assists (321) and 12th in steals (112).

— Junior guard Jackson Emery has 67 steals this season, a BYU record for steals in a season. The previous record was 66 by Marty Haws in 1989-90.

— 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 five-straight 20-win seasons and four-straight postseason appearances. At 121-37 (.766) overall, he is BYU’s all-time leader in winning percentage.

— 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 248 after hitting three threes at Colorado State. He is also climbing the lists for points (12th with 1,434) and steals (3rd with 149).

— Since Jonathan Tavernari’s freshman year, BYU has won 101 games — the best four-year stretch in BYU basketball history — and he has played in 97. He is tied with former teammate Lee Cummard, who played in 97 victories.

BYU Game #28 Fast Facts

No. 16/14 BYU (24-3, 9-2) at Wyoming (9-17, 2-10)

Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010

Arena-Auditorium (15,000)

Laramie, Wyoming

4 p.m. MST

Coaches

BYU, Dave Rose (121-37 in fifth season; same overall)

Wyoming, HeathSchroyer (40-49 in third season; 75-96 in sixth season overall)

Series

BYU leads 102-69, including an 81-66 BYU win on Jan. 20, 2010 in Provo

TV

Live on The Mtn. (Tim Neverett, play-by-play; Larry Mangino, game analysis)

Radio

KSL Newsradio (102.7 FM/1160 AM and online at KSL.com) and the Cougar Sports Network (3 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 Wyoming

Wyoming is 9-17 overall and 2-10 in the Mountain West Conference. The Cowboys have lost six-straight games, most recently 83-61 at New Mexico. Wyoming is 8-8 at home, including 2-4 in home conference games. The Cowboys have lost two of their best players this season, including Afam Muojeke (16.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg) to injury and A.J. Davis (10.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg) to personal reasons. Sophomore center Adam Waddell is the team’s active leader in scoring (10.1 ppg) and rebounding (6.0 rpg) and is second in field goal percentage (.528). Desmar Jackson is second in scoring among active players (9.9 ppg) and second in steals (33). He is shooting .487 from the field and .689 from the free throw line. Djibiril Thiam is right behind Jackson at 9.7 ppg while adding 5.0 rpg and leading the team in shooting, hitting .571 from the field. JayDee Luster adds 6.0 ppg and a team-best 4.5 apg. Arthur Bouedo is averaging 7.3 ppg while Ryan Dermody adds 5.6 ppg. As a team the Cowboys shoot .438 from the field, .270 from three and .685 from the free throw line while averaging 73.4 ppg. Their opponents average 75.7 ppg and shoot .447 from the field and .345 from three. Heath Schroyer is in his third season as Wyoming’s head coach, where he is 40-49.

Wyoming’s Last Outing — Wyoming Falls to New Mexico, 83-61

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Darington Hobson had 20 points and 10 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season, and New Mexico’s Steve Alford won his 300th game as a Division I coach as the No. 12 Lobos beat Wyoming 83-61 on Wednesday night.

Phillip McDonald scored 14 points and Roman Martinez had 13 for New Mexico (24-3, 10-2 Mountain West), which has won 10 straight - all in conference. The last time the Lobos did that in league play, Michael Cooper was suiting up during the 1977-78 season.

Arthur Bouedo led Wyoming (9-17, 2-10) with 17 points and Djibril Thiam had 10, but the Cowboys lost their sixth straight and dropped to 0-9 on the road this season. They haven’t won in Albuquerque since 2003, a seven-game run.

New Mexico was a bit ragged at times, especially on occasional defensive lapses that had Alford looking down the bench for someone to send in. But playing in front of their seventh straight sellout at The Pit, the Lobos had no trouble against the overmatched Cowboys.

Alford, who even rested his starters down the stretch, improved to 300-178 in 15 seasons as a Division I coach, and 378-207 overall if you include his four seasons at Division III Manchester College in Indiana.

The Lobos scored the first 11 points and raced to a 22-8 lead midway through the first half after consecutive 3-pointers by Jamal Fenton and Nate Garth. Hobson added a nice no-look pass to McDonald for a layup that put New Mexico up 26-10.

The Cowboys cut the deficit to 29-18 after New Mexico’s defense went soft and allowed two easy layups by Thiam with 2:58 before halftime. Alford took a timeout to chew out his players, and the Lobos answered with an 8-0 burst that included two 3-pointers by Martinez.

New Mexico led 30-17 at halftime, with nine of the 10 players scoring, and the Lobos kept the momentum going after the break.

Martinez made a jumper, McDonald hit a 3-pointer and Martinez grabbed a steal of Wyoming’s inbounds pass for a layup to start a 12-3 run. Minutes later, Hobson twice took alley-oop passes from Jamal Fenton during a 9-1 burst that gave the Lobos a 61-32 lead and had fans roaring with 12 minutes to go.

Series Notes

BYU leads the all-time series against Colorado State 87-46 and has won the last seven meetings, including a 91-47 victory in Provo this season. BYU has won the last two games at Colorado State. Dave Rose is 9-1 all-time against the Rams.

New Record for Thievery

With one steal at Colorado State, Jackson Emery has 67 steals this season, breaking the BYU for steals in a single season. The record was previously held by Marty Haws, who had 66 steals in 1989-90.

33-Point Games

Jimmer Fredette’s 36 points at Colorado State was his fifth game with 33-plus points this season. He is fifth all-time in BYU history for 33-point games and his five this season are the most by a BYU junior in a single season and the third-most in any BYU season. Devin Durrant had 11 33-point games as a senior in 1983-84 and Dick Nemelka had six as a senior in 1965-66.

Four Game Stretch

Jimmer Fredette’s four-game stretch from Jan. 23 to Feb. 2 was his best this season as he averaged 30.5 points per game. He posted 33 at San Diego State, 27 at New Mexico, 36 at home against Utah and 26 at home against TCU. He shot .475 (38-80) from the field, .680 (17-25) from three and .935 (29-31) from the free throw line during the four-game stretch. Fredette was especially efficient in the second halves of those games, averaging 17.8 points while shooting .733 (11-15) from three and .947 (18-19) from the free throw line.

1,600 Wins

BYU’s 76-56 win over TCU was the 1,600th victory in program history. BYU is the 19th program in NCAA history to win 1,600 games. Oregon State, Washington, Louisville and Texas also reached the plateau this season. The Cougars are at 1,602 wins.

Best Record Through 27 Games

At 24-3 overall, BYU men’s basketball is tied with the 1987-88 team for the best record in program history through 27 games. See below for the other best records through 27 games.

In the Rankings

BYU men’s basketball entered the top-25 rankings for the first time this season on Jan. 4 at No. 25 in the AP Poll and No. 23 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. The Cougars are currently ranked No. 16 in the AP Poll and No. 14 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. BYU has been ranked as high as No. 12 in the AP Poll and No. 10 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. Rose has led his teams to the rankings in each of the last four seasons to become the first Cougar coach to lead BYU into the rankings in four-straight seasons. The Cougar basketball program has now been ranked in the AP Poll during 18 seasons since its first national ranking in 1950-51.

BYU as a Ranked Team

BYU owns a 147-60 record as a ranked team, including 9-2 this season. The Cougars are 85-12 at home, 40-30 on the road and 22-18 at neutral sites when nationally ranked. BYU is 19-8 as a ranked team under Dave Rose, including 10-2 this season.

1,000-Point Scorers

With 13 points at Colorado State, Jonathan Tavernari has 1,434 career points and is 12th all-time in scoring at BYU. He is 79 points from passing Kresimir Cosic for 11th all-time. After scoring 36 points at Colorado State, Jimmer Fredette has 1,318 career points — 18th all-time. He is 20 points from passing Marty Haws for 17th 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 248 makes and 654 attempts. Jimmer Fredette is fourth with 154 makes and is third with 385 attempts.

Top-10 Pick Pockets

Senior forward Jonathan Tavernari had four steals at Colorado State to give him 149 for his career. He is third all-time in BYU history. Jackson Emery is ninth with 124 while Jimmer Fredette is 12th with 112.

When Jimmer Scores 20...

Jimmer Fredette had 36 points at Colorado State, his 16th 20-point game this season and 24th of his career. He has reached 33-plus points five times this season. BYU is 20-4 when Fredette scores 20 or more points.