BYU vs. South Florida: Game Notes & Quotes

Player Notes

-Kyle Collinsworth started for the first time in his career and scored the Cougars’ first point of the game from the charity stripe. Collinsworth and Davies started in place of Chris Collinsworth (out with an injury) and Charles Abouo.

-Jackson Emery played just seven minutes in the first half due to committing two fouls early and was scoreless through the first half but finished with 20 points in the victory. He had 14 of BYU's 15 points from 6:56 in the second half to 1:20 in the second half. Emery hit four threes and two free throws during the stretch.

-BYU’s backcourt duo, Jimmer Fredette and Jackson Emery, combined for 52 of the Cougars’ 77 points. Fredette’s 32 points and Emery’s 20 points were both seniors’ season highs thus far this season.

-Brandon Davies was huge defensively in the first overtime recording two drawn charges. He finished the game with 4 points, 6 boards, 1 assist and 1 block.

Team Notes

-BYU started a new starting line-up of Jimmer Fredette, Jackson Emery, Kyle Collinsworth, Brandon Davies and Noah Hartsock.

-The Cougars posted 6 steals in the first half and forced 10 Bull turnovers. BYU finished with 12 steals and for 21 turnovers.

-The double overtime victory was BYU’s first overtime game this season.

Game Trends

-BYU went on an early 7-2 run to take a 13-9 lead.

-The Cougars’ five-point deficit at the half was the first time BYU has trailed at halftime this season.

-USF began the second half with a 5-0 run to take their largest lead of the night, 33-23.

-A Davies free throw, six Fredette free throws and an Emery layup gave the Cougars a 9-0 run of their own to bring BYU within one of USF trailing just 33-32.

-An Abouo three-point basket with 33 seconds remaining in regulation sent the Cougars into overtime. Fredette game BYU a 69-66 lead with 1:00 remaining in the first overtime but South Florida responded with a three 30 seconds later to force a second overtime. Hartsock finally secured the 77-75 victory for BYU with a baseline jumper as time expired in the second extra period.

Record Watch

-Senior Jimmer Fredette continues to move up the BYU record books, as the guard now ranks No. 9 in career points with 1,656 career points. Fredette’s 32 points against USF moved him ahead of Ken Roberts, who recorded 1,652 points from 1990-91 and 1993-96.

-Fredette’s 5 steals moved the senior guard from being tied for 9th all-time steals with Matt Montague to being tied with Lee Cummard for 8th in BYU all-time steals record books with 129 career steals.

-Jackson Emery’s 13 three-point attempts against the Bulls gave Emery the fourth-most three-point attempts with 387 attempts from long range during his career. Emery surpassed Mike Rose who attempted 381 treys during his time at BYU.

Postgame Quotes

Dave Rose

“It was fun to watch our guys compete. I think there are times when it is really easy to play hard. It’s really easy when things are going well for you, when you’re shooting the ball well, when you’re making free throws or getting big stops but this was a game where we were having a lot of problems, we were missing a lot of free throws and not making shots and our guys had a real will to win the game.”

"Tonight was a real gut check. These games are really hard on you when you lose because guys will say 'if I had made one more play' or this or that. But when you win a game like this, I think it can really help your team come together and hopefully that is what this win will do."

Jimmer Fredette

“They’re a Big East team and the Big East teams always like to slow it down and play physical. They always have really big athletic guys. All-in-all we didn’t play really great but we were able to get it done and that’s what you have to do.”