BYU vs. SDSU: Game Notes & Quotes

BYU vs. San Diego State

February 24, 2010

Marriott Center (Provo, Utah)

Player Notes

— Jimmer Fredette led all scorers with 26 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Fredette shot 8-of-17 from the field and 4-of-8 from three.

— Fredette has made 4 or more treys in 8 games, including 6 games in MWC play

— Fredette has scored at least 21 points in 8 of the last 9 games.

— Jackson Emery scored 17 points with 7 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 assists.

— Emery finished with 5 steals, his 20th multi-steal game, 7th game with 4 steals or more and 3rd with five steals or more of the season.

— Emery has scored in double digits in six-straight games.

— Tyler Haws has converted 23 free throws in a row, following a 10-of-10 mark at Wyoming with an 8-of-8 performance against SDSU. Haws also had a previous streak of 20 earlier in the season.

Team Notes

— The Cougar defense did not allow the Aztec’s leading scorer, Kawhi Leonard, to score until the one minute into the second half. Leonard finished with just 3 points and 5 rebounds.

— Before tonight, SDSU, the conference leader in scoring defense (62.0 ppg) had only allowed 80 or more points three times. BYU finished with 82 points.

— BYU had 20 fast break points, second-most on the year behind 21 points vs. San Francisco

— BYU has won 21-straight at home, good for fourth-best in the country, and has taken the last five games at home against the Aztecs.

— BYU owns a 149-60 (.713) record as a ranked team. The Cougars are 21-8 (.724) under Coach Rose when ranked, including 12-2 (.857) this season.

— In five seasons as head coach, Dave Rose and the Cougars have finished strong through their last 10 regular-season games, going 9-1 each of the last four seasons. BYU is 6-1 so far this year.

— Jimmer Fredette scored 26 points, his 18th game with at least 20 points and 26th of his career. BYU is 22-4 when Fredette scores 20 or more points.

Record Watch

— BYU’s record of 26-3 is the best mark through 29 games in program history.

— Through 29 games, BYU is 235-of-561 (.419) from the three-point line, just trailing the 2007-08 team which converted a record 285-of-764 (.373) on the season and was 238-of-643 (.370) through 29 games.

— Fredette is 3 three-pointers away from passing Mike Rose for third-most makes in BYU history with 161 conversions to Rose’s 163.

— Jonathan Tavernari, the winningest player in Cougar history, has now played in 99 wins in his BYU career and has been a part of 103 victories total.

— With 11 points versus SDSU, Jonathan Tavernari has 1,462 career points, currently 12th all-time. Tavernari needs 51 points to pass Kresimir Cosic for 11th all-time.

— With 26 points versus SDSU, Jimmer Fredette has 1,366 career points, passing Marty Haws for 17th all-time. Fredette is 7 points away from passing Trent Plaisted for 16th all-time.

Game Trends

— Jimmer Fredette scored BYU’s first five points on a layup and a three.

— BYU scored 11 unanswered points to take a 36-25 lead after sitting tied with SDSU with 3:07 left in the first half.

— The Cougars went on a 9-0 run in the second half, getting baskets from Tavernari, Emery, Davies and Abouo to push the lead to 53-44 with 13:35 remaining.

BYU Head Coach Dave Rose

“This was a great win for our players. San Diego State is a good team. Coach Fisher has a great group of guys. They gave us a lot of trouble, particularly early in the first half. They made athletic plays and they made us speed up but we were able to eventually get the game to our pace. Overall, it was a good game and I’m looking forward to New Mexico.

“Rebounding was the most important thing we did tonight because once we got the ball out in transition we were able to score because we had the advantage. Our guard rebounding was huge for us tonight. Jackson and Jimmer were terrific on the boards. SDSU relies so much on rebounds to score, so if you can secure the ball and send it you will have the advantage. Tonight we were engaged and locked in on rebounding.”

On Jimmer Fredette: “He was good but he has been good for us all season. He gives confidence to all of his teammates by finding them with open shots. He makes terrific passes and tonight he penetrated which made them foul. He was able to get them into foul trouble which was important for us.

San Diego State Coach Steve Fisher

“We got beat by a really good team tonight. Every time we missed a shot, they attacked and that resulted in too many quick and easy baskets.”

“Jimmer is the best in the league. He is hard to stop, but I felt like we did a pretty good job against him during certain parts of the game. But he is as good a guard as I have seen in this league, period.”

“BYU runs and runs significantly better at home than on the road. We had to start putting three people back to stop the fast break instead of two. They are not 26-3 for no reason. They are really good.”