BYU vs. Utah: Game Notes and Quotes

Player Notes

-Charles Abouo led the Cougars early, scoring 15 of BYU’s first 22 points on 6-of-7 shooting with 2 steals and 1 rebound. He set a new season high with his 15th point with 7:41 remaining in the first half. Abouo finished with 17 points in the first half, the largest first-half output by a BYU player other than Jimmer Fredette this season.

-Jimmer Fredette’s team-leading free-throw streak ended at 28 at the 1:17 mark of the first half.

-Brandon Davies drew 3 charges on the night.

-Jackson Emery’s 6 steals tied a career high. He also finished with 5 assists and 0 turnovers.

-Fredette’s 23 points gave him his 11th-straight 20+ point game. Fredette has 51-career 20+ point outputs.

-With 22 points and 10 rebounds, Abouo recorded his first-career double-double and tied his career-high scoring output.

Team Notes

-BYU now leads the all-time series with Utah by a 127-125, winning 9 of the last 10 meetings.

-By the 7:57 mark in the first half, Emery, Fredette and Davies each had 2 assists. The Cougars posted a 2.75 assist to turnover ratio in the first half.

-Fredette (23), Abouo (22) and Emery (17) combined to score 62 of BYU’s 72 points.

-BYU's 24-2 record is the best record through 26 games in Cougar history. The 1987-88 and 2009-10 teams were each 23-3 through 26 games.

Record Watch

-Fredette is now first place in wins played in for the Cougars, surpassing Jonathan Tavernari with his 104th victory played in as a Cougar.

-Dave Rose recorded his 151st career victory, moving him within 1 victory of Roger Reid for 2nd place all time at BYU.

-Fredette was 2-for-5 from three-point range, tying him with Emery and Jonathan Tavernari for 2nd place all time on the BYU single season list with 85.

-Fredette tied Eldon Brinley for the most points by a BYU player against Utah with 182 point against the Utes in 7 games. Brinley played in 16 rivalry games from 1928 to 1931 while Fredette has played in eight.

Game Trends

-A steal by Jackson Emery at the 15:55 mark in the first half set up an Abouo layup that gave the Cougars an early 7-4 lead.

-Utah took their first lead (16-18) of the game at the 10:44 mark in the first half.

-A back-and-forth first half ended with a 3-0 Cougar run, giving BYU a 31-30 advantage going into the break.

-A 12-0 Fredette run gave the Cougars their biggest lead of the game to that point with a 60-48 advantage at the 6:49 mark in the second half.

Postgame Quotes

BYU head coach Dave Rose

“That was a knock-down, drag-out game. I think that’s what we expected. The last game up on the hill was a fast-paced game, up-and-down the floor. Utah did a great job of controlling the pace of this game. For most of the game, it looked like a game that would be played in the 50s. We made some plays late. Jackson did a terrific job defensively and got some big steals that led straight to baskets.”

“It was a great week, with the Air Force game at Air Force and then coming here to protect our home floor. We’ll take this week off and then be ready for TCU next week.”

On Jimmer Fredette:

“When you receive the attention for 40 minutes like he does but you continue to force the issue like he does and not only make plays for himself but also for his teammates. I’ve said it before he is a relentless scorer and I don’t know if you can appreciate that until you’ve coached. There are guys that can score but he is relentless. He just continually puts pressure on the defense to guard him.”

“Utah did a great job guarding him but he found people. Charles having 22 points is a direct result of how they wanted to guard Jimmer and Charles was ready to go. Twenty-two points and 10 rebounds, those are the things that are most pleasing to our staff, that different guys are stepping up but we’re finding ways to win games.”

Utah head coach Jim Boylen

“I felt if we could hold Fredette to 12 each half, then we could manage this game. I knew that if we controlled the pace of this game, it would be to our advantage. I feel like we did that tonight, however, we had a lot of turnovers and they played great zone defense.”

“We really battled after a humbling loss to SDSU and it shows growth in this young team. We were hoping to recover after that loss but we didn’t. Everything this team experiences is new. Our two leading scorers are new and this level of competition is new to them.”

“When Jimmer got into the paint and got a few free throws, that’s when the game broke open. This is a hard place to play in and they are a good team. But, I’m proud of the guys and how they played tonight.”

Utah center David Foster

“What went wrong tonight was turnovers. They had great transition and had some great steps. They are just good at getting other teams to turnover the ball and that’s what happened. We fought hard and coach said he’s proud of us and happy with the way we played.

“Coming off of that loss to SDSU is hard but we tried really hard. We still have confidence and we’re not down after this loss at all.”