BYU vs. Florida: NCAA Tournament Game Notes & Quotes

No. 7 BYU vs. No. 10 Florida

NCAA Tournament First Round

March 18, 2010

Ford Center (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)

Player Notes

— Jimmer Fredette scored a game-high 37 points, shooting 13-of-26 from the field with 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.

— Michael Loyd, Jr. scored a career-high 26 points, shooting 7-of-10 from the field and 9-of-10 from the free throw line, adding 4 steals and 2 rebounds.

— Fredette ended his free-throw streak at 37, two short of the mark he set earlier this season. Fredette hit 21 against TCU, all 12 of his attempts versus UNLV, and 4-of-4 against Florida before missing. He finished 8-for-10 at the line against the Gators.

— Fredette made 3 treys, his 19th game with multiple threes.

Team Notes

— BYU won its first NCAA Tournament game since 1993, snapping a seven-game losing streak.

— The game was the first to go to double overtime and the second to reach overtime in BYU’s NCAA history. BYU’s first NCAA Tournament overtime game was versus NC-Charlotte in 1988.

— In the first half, BYU had 9 points off Florida turnovers compared to zero for the Gators.

— This is the Cougars’ 25th NCAA Tournament appearance. BYU has a 12-27 record in the tournament.

— BYU is 3-0 all-time against Florida, having also defeated the Gators in 1959 and 1991.

— With the win, BYU broke Florida’s 12-game NCAA tournament win streak.

Record Watch

— Fredette’s 37 points tied Danny Ainge for the most points in an NCAA Tournament game by a BYU player. Ainge scored 37 against UCLA in 1981.

— Loyd’s 26 points ties for the seventh-most in BYU NCAA Tournament history, tying Gary Trost vs. SMU in 1993.

— The combined 63 points of Fredette and Loyd is the most by any two players in the same NCAA Tournament game in BYU history and the second time two players have scored 20 or more points. Russell Larson and Kenneth Roberts scored 20 apiece against Tulane in 1995.

— Fredette’s 26 field goals attempted are the most in a game in BYU NCAA Tournament history while his 13 made field goals are the second-most (Ainge made 14 in 1981).

— Loyd’s 4 steals ties his career high and is the second-most in BYU NCAA Tournament history, tying Nathan Call in 1992 and Jimmer Fredette in 2009.

— Fredette’s 46 minutes played is the most by a player in BYU NCAA Tournament history, passing Michael Smith’s 42 minutes versus NC-Charlotte in 1988. Jackson Emery’s 40 minutes ties for third all-time.

— Tyler Haws has converted 42 free throws in a row, passing Jimmer Fredette’s record of 39 set earlier this season as the longest in BYU history. The freshman forward has been perfect from the line after hitting his last five against Colorado State, going 10-of-10 at Wyoming, 8-of-8 against SDSU, 5-of-5 against New Mexico, 4-of-4 at Utah, 6-of-6 versus TCU and 4-of-4 against Florida.

— BYU won its 30th game of the season, the first time a Cougar team has reached 30 wins.

— BYU is 30-1 this season when leading at the half. BYU held a 35-33 advantage against Florida.

— Fredette's combined 131 points in his top three single-game scoring totals is the most of any BYU player. Fredette has scored 49 vs. Arizona, 45 vs. TCU and 37 vs. Florida, all this season. Fredette breaks Dick Nemelka's total of 118 points, with individual totals of 40, 39 and 39 in 1964 and 1965.

— Fredette has scored the fourth-most career points through his first three seasons of any player in BYU history with 1,510 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 6 points vs. Florida, Jonathan Tavernari has 1,512 career points, tying Kresimir Cosic for 11th all-time.

— With 37 points vs. Florida, Jimmer Fredette has 1,510 career points. Fredette is currently 3 points from passing Tavernari and Cosic for 11th all-time.

— With 1 steal, Jackson Emery is 17 steals behind Tavernari for 3rd on the BYU all-time steals list.

Game Trends

— Michael Loyd, Jr. went on an 10-0 run by himself, shooting 4-of-4, including two treys, giving BYU a 31-28 lead after the Cougars trailed by seven.

— BYU made six-consecutive shots from the 5:56 mark to the 2:49 mark, including four-straight by Loyd, one by Noah Hartsock, and one by Tyler Haws.

— The Cougars went on a 14-2 run over 5:55 in the first half.

— BYU held Florida to one field goal in the last seven minutes of the first half.

— Fredette made 10 of BYU’s 12 points early in the second half. He and Haws scored BYU’s first 14 points of the second half over the period’s first 8:14.

— Loyd scored all six of BYU's points in the first overtime.

BYU Head Coach Dave Rose

"I've got a lot of confidence in our guys. They've reached and stood up to a lot of challenges this year, and tonight was one of them. You could see a real resolve on the face of our players, and that's how we won 30 games."

"I'm really proud of our players. I thought it was a really hard-fought game. You get a double overtime win, and it makes you feel that much better."

"I'm just really happy for our guys because this was a long time in coming for our program and it's a big win. One of the most important goals we had to start this season was to get to this tournament and advance and we're advancing. So I'm proud of our guys."

“This team has been through a lot and Mike [Loyd, Jr.] has really benefited from the struggles Jimmer has had. It got Mike really involved in our offensive schemes.

On Michael Loyd, Jr.: “He was unbelievable; he played on attack. Not only offensively, but he was really disruptive defensively and gave us a chance to hold down Walker and Boynton, two really, really good guards.”

On Jimmer Fredette: “He’s a really versatile guy and hard to stop from scoring. You never really expect him to miss, especially when he gets to the rim. They weren’t bringing a second defender early in the game. Those two big threes he hit late, we’ve seen that all year long. He’s confident, the coaching staff has confidence in him and the team has confidence in him.”

On Kansas State: "Everyone in here watches basketball enough to know they will create some real problems for us on the boards. There's some things that we'll have to try and do physically to move them. Other things we'll need to do -- I don't think you can count on scoring 99 points to win. We needed all 99 of them tonight, and we'll probably have to score at a pretty good clip to stay in the game with those guys. They're big and physical, strong, and they really play on attack."

Florida Head Coach Billy Donovan

"These guys, I don't think, could have given any more than they had physically and took a lot out of us to come back whatever it was, 13, 14 down. I thought the differences in the game was the fact that their depth I think over the 50-minute period, we had a hard time scoring because of fatigue."

"I think Kenny [Boynton] had an unbelievable game and he really carried us. And I think as a freshman goes, to sit over there on the sidelines and watch him not only guard Fredette the whole entire game but then to have the offensive night he had and shoot it the way he did from the 3-point line was remarkable."

"We had our chances and certainly BYU had a chance to put us away midway through the second half, and our guys wouldn't allow it to happen and they kept battling and fighting. I'm proud of them, and I don't think there's any question that next game, it will be interesting to see how BYU can come back physically, because I think even all of our SEC games, this was the most physical game we played all year long."

"It's hard to sit there and say look at the stat sheet, the guy scores 37, you did a good job on him. We only gave up three 3-pointer shots in the first half. Our defense wasn't bad. They're a pretty explosive offensive team. They've got the largest margin of victory of anybody in the country. So they're an explosive team that can come back in a hurry. And when we took the lead there in the first half, they did a great job coming back."

On Michael Loyd, Jr.: "He's a very, very aggressive -- they play much, much faster when he's in the game."

"Fredette to me has got good command, good pace. When they bring Abouo in and Loyd in, the intensity level goes up. I think that that actually put more pressure on Boynton and Walker because now you're chasing Fredette around for 35 seconds and now he comes in, Fredette is resting, and this guy is coming at you full speed. It makes it really, really difficult. But I don't think maybe people will be surprised with the number of points he scored today, but I was not surprised at all of his level of aggressiveness because he really had shown that we had -- we had talked a lot about that going into the game."

Jimmer Fredette

"It was a special night for us. Obviously Mike came in and played huge off the bench. Mike will have games like that where he comes in and feeling really good, getting that transition, making his shots. It was just a great team effort. We did a good job at the end of rebounding the basketball and getting out and making big shots and in that second overtime."

"I just wanted to be aggressive from the beginning. I was able to get to the basket, and they didn't help a whole lot just because our shooters are very good, and if they did help out get it to them, they would shoot it. They weren't helping a whole lot except for the one big man. I was able to get in the lane and be aggressive and make layups. I just continued to do that until the end where I was able to hit some big threes there."

"Well, beginning of the game I told Chandler Parsons, I said, 'No game-winning shots tonight.' And he came down to the end where he had a chance and just barely missed it. He was like, 'I just barely missed it, Jimmer.' I told Kenny, 'I think he missed that because I told him not to make it in the beginning.' It was kind of just a little joke but, you know, just friendly competition. They're all great guys on the other team. They did a good job."

"It's getting rest; we're lucky we have a day to rest and get a game plan in and practice a little bit and not worry all about this game anymore. We just to start quick, I think. We have to get out and really get our adrenaline going again and know that we're still playing for our life, it's one and done, and we don't want to lose. So at this point you just got to go out and play as hard as you possibly can and not worry about the last game."