White Out Planned for Friday

PROVO -- BYU men’s basketball will host Fresno State in its home and season opener on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Marriott Center. The game is being billed as a White Out as the Cougars will don their new uniforms and fans are encouraged to wear white shirts to the game.

Fan attendance has played a big role in BYU’s home opener success over the last three seasons. In 2007, 12,153 were on hand to see the Cougars defeat Idaho State 90-69. The next season, 15,753 had their tickets scanned and saw BYU down Long Beach State 75-65 behind Lee Cummard’s 36 points.

Last season the home opener attendance increased once against, as 16,276 witnessed BYU’s 70-60 victory over Bradley behind Jimmer Fredette’s 25 points.

Can BYU fans top the efforts of the last three seasons? With Jimmer Fredette on everyone’s preseason All-America team and former BYU coach Steve Cleveland bringing Fresno State to Provo, Friday night is primed to be one of the more memorable openers in recent memory. Will you be there?

Current players understand the role of the crowd in their success and appreciate the fan support. See what they have to say.

Senior Guard Jackson Emery

“I just love the passion of the fans. BYU fans want to win and they motivate you and help you to win. We have so many fans that want to win and if you’re out there not doing so well, they are cheering you on because they want to win as bad as you do.”

Senior Guard Jimmer Fredette

“Our fans do a great job supporting us and all of the teams on campus. I know people are excited about basketball this year and I hope they stay excited. I hope a lot people will come out to the game and support the White Out. We hope we’ll have big crowds all year and hopefully we can give the fans what they expect.”

“Our fans are very loud and they are very knowledgeable about the game. They know our team and they know what to do to get us going.”

Junior Guard Charles Abouo

“We play in front of some great fans. It’s one of the bigger venues in the country. It’s exciting because we get a lot of fans to come out to a lot of the games. It’s fun to play in front of that type of crowd. Our team’s had a lot of success here the last couple of years so that’s what makes it a special place to play.”

“I know the fans here are pretty loyal. They love their BYU sports and they come out consistently every year and to every game. When you see them outside the Marriott Center they always tell you how excited they are to be a part of it and it just makes it that much more fun as a player to be a part of this team.”

Junior Forward Noah Hartsock

“The Marriott Center is just a fun place to play. It’s a big, open gym and you can fit a lot of people in here. It’s a fun environment that you can have with so many people in here. It gets loud and a it’s a fun home court advantage to have.”

“BYU fans are always going to be here. If it’s a bad season or a good season, they’re going to be a out here supporting us. They’re going to be loud and it’s a lot of fun playing for them.”

Sophomore Forward Chris Collinsworth

“I’ve never lost in the Marriot Center. My freshman year we didn’t lose at home. When you play in front of 22,000 people, that’s pretty special and pretty significant. It’s one of the biggest arenas in the nation. We take a lot of pride in it. That alone, us coming out and taking pride in our arena, makes it special.”

“The fans are great. If you can fill up a place that fits 22,000 people the fans must be good. They come every game and they support us and they’re always positive with us so I like it.”

Sophomore Forward Brandon Davies

“I love the fans. The environment is surreal to me. I love it when this place is packed and you can really hear the roar of the crowd. It echoes in here, it gets pretty loud in here.”

“Our fans get into the game just as much or better than anyone else. It’s amazing. No matter where we are everyone knows what we stand for and there’s a tremendous amount of support no matter where we go.”

Sophomore Guard Brock Zylstra

“I love playing here. Not many arenas, not even professional arenas, hold as many people as the Marriott Center does. The student section is more than a quarter of the arena. The fans always fill it up and it’s loud. They’re loyal fans, they love us and they cheer hard when we play well. Even when we don’t play well they’re still here.”

“I’ve noticed that no matter where we go across the country, be it California or Texas, there are always BYU fans. They have their jerseys on and they’re in their blue and white. It’s just great to have support no matter where you go in the country, no matter if it’s on the east coast, the west coast or here, it’s great to see that we have fans across the whole country.”