BYU vs. UNLV: MWC Tournament Game Notes & Quotes

BYU vs. UNLV

Mountain West Conference Tournament Semifinals

March 12, 2010

Thomas & Mack Center (Las Vegas, Nevada)

Player Notes

— Jimmer Fredette scored 30 points, shooting 12-of-12 from the line and 7-of-20 from the field including 4 three-pointers, adding 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 1 assist.

— Fredette has made 33 free throws in a row, shooting 12-of-12 after making his last 21 against TCU. Fredette has had 16 games of perfect free throw shooting this year.

— Fredette made 4 treys, his 18th game with multiple threes and his 8th game with 4 or more this year.

— Michael Loyd, Jr. scored 11 points starting in place of an injured Tyler Haws, shooting 5-of-8 with 2 assists and 2 rebounds.

— Jackson Emery had 2 steals, his 23rd multi-steal game.

Team Notes

— BYU shot .882 from the free throw line, the fourth-straight game the Cougars have shot above .800 from the line and the 17th game overall.

— BYU owns a 152-62 (.710) record as a ranked team. The Cougars are 24-10 (.706) under Coach Rose when ranked, including 15-4 (.789) this season.

Record Watch

- Jimmer Fredette totaled a record 75 points in just two MWC Tournament

games, surpassing the previous all-time tournament record of 73, set by New

Mexico’s Danny Granger in 2005 (Granger recorded the total over the span of

three tournament games).

- Fredette also set a MWC Tournament record for free throws made and free throws

attempted, shooting a combined 35-of-36 from the line in two games. San Diego

State’s Marcus Slaughter held the record for free throws made (25) and free

throws attempted (32) over a three-game span in the 2006 MWC Tournament.

- As a team, BYU shot 48-of-54 from the charity stripe in this year’s MWC

Tournament. The Cougars’ .889 free throw percentage sets the tournament record

for highest free throw percentage in a MWC Tournament game.

— Fredette’s 45 and 30 points is his best back-to-back output of his career.

— Jimmer Fredette tied the MWC Tournament record for the second-most three-point attempts in a game with 11 attempts

— Fredette’s 12-of-12 from the free throw line is the second-best percentage in MWC tournament history and the third-best in BYU history.

— Fredette has scored the fourth-most career points through his first three seasons of any player in BYU history with 1,473 points. Danny Ainge (1,685), Michael Smith (1,554) and Kresimir Cosic (1,512) are the only players with more points through their first three seasons.

— With 4 points vs. UNLV, Jonathan Tavernari has 1,506 career points, currently 12th all-time. Tavernari needs 7 points to pass Kresimir Cosic for 11th all-time.

— With 30 points vs. UNLV, Jimmer Fredette has 1,473 career points. Fredette is currently 34 points from passing Jonathan Tavernari for 12th all-time and is 40 points from passing Kresimir Cosic for 11th all-time.

— With 2 steals, Jackson Emery is 15 steals behind Tavernari for 3rd on the BYU all-time steals list. He has 89 this season.

Game Trends

— BYU’s first three and five of their first six baskets all came off three-pointers, with Jackson Emery hitting two and Jimmer Fredette making one to start the game.

— BYU held UNLV to one field goal over the course of 6:42 in the first half.

— Down 57-47, BYU went on a 14-2 run late in the second half to take a 61-59 lead with 2:51 remaining.

BYU Head Coach Dave Rose

"Well, I'm really proud of our team. I thought we played a really competitive game, played a really good team. You know, I think our players, as far as our coaches are concerned, executed our game plan and did everything that we wanted them to do tonight. We just came up a couple points short. We wish UNLV good luck. We'll move forward."

"Well, this team is a really competitive team. We've been beat a few times, but not many, so that's a special group of guys. For a team to have 29 wins, you can't help but really feel for those guys in that locker room because they played their hearts out tonight and we played well enough to win, and it didn't happen. But we've got to put that behind us and now look forward to what's next. The best feeling that I guess you can have is the fact that this team has been really good for four months and they deserve to keep playing."

UNLV Head Coach Lon Kruger

On playing in the Thomas & Mack: "There's an advantage to some degree. Who knows how much that is. We have a good basketball team. We have four in the league that are playing at an awfully high level. If we weren't a decent team, we wouldn't be there tomorrow. It's not because we're at home only.

"You know, sell out, great atmosphere. You turn on TVs across the country. A lot of tournaments where the crowd is not very good, the atmosphere is not there obviously. To have an atmosphere like this, I know the players would rather play in this atmosphere regardless of all else. I understand the coaches being a little skeptical."

"I'm really proud of our guys. We let a lead slip a little bit there. BYU took it away from us. To come back, tie it up, take the lead back, really proud of that moment especially."

"A lot of respect for BYU and how good a job Dave always does. Really proud of our guys for being able to finish it tonight."

"You know, they're always good. But they're especially good when they get out in transition and go. That happened during that stretch there. We missed a couple shots over their zone, they got a couple in transition. All of a sudden it's a tied game."