BYU vs. San Diego State: Game Notes and Quotes

Player Notes

-Jimmer Fredette added 9 assists to his game-high 25 points, tying the season high he set against UTEP.

-Stephen Rogers extended his team-leading free-throw streak to 20 after going 2-of-2 from the line en route to scoring 5 points and grabbing 2 rebounds.

-Noah Hartsock scored 15 points, his second highest output of the season, shooting 3-of-4 from three-point range while adding 3 assists and 4 blocks.

-Charles Abouo posted a team-high 9 rebounds to go along with his 18 points, 1 block and 2 steals.

Team Notes

-Four Cougars scored in double figures, led by Fredette’s 25. Abouo added 18, Hartsock tallied 15 and Emery added 13.

-The Cougars held Aztec guard D.J. Gay (12.1 ppg) to 6 points on 2-of-7 shooting.

-BYU shot .583 (14-24) from three-point range and .857 (12-14) from the free-throw line.

-The victory was the 154th of Dave Rose’s career. He is now 154-42 all-time and 77-17 in MWC play.

Record Watch

-With 4 treys on the night, Fredette passed Jonathan Tavernari for 1st place on the BYU career list. He also passed Tavernari on the all-time MWC list for 4th place and is now tied with Chad Toppert of New Mexico for 3rd place after recording his 266th-career three pointer.

-Fredette’s 25 points put him ahead of Danny Ainge for 2nd-place all-time on the BYU season record list with his 793rd point. He also surpassed Michael Smith for 2nd-place all-time on the BYU career list with his 2,324th-career point.

-Fredette’s 9 assists gave him 481 for his career and moved him into 2nd place all-time on the MWC assist list, surpassing Richie Williams of San Diego State who dished out 479 assists from 2005-09.

Game Trends

-After going down 2-0 to begin the game, the Cougars retook the lead and would never relinquish. Their biggest lead of 13 came at the 8:20 mark in the second half and again to end the game.

-The Aztecs went on a 15-6 run to end the first half, pulling within 3 at 38-35 going into halftime.

-The second half was scoreless for the first 3 minutes before an Abouo put back at the 17:10 mark gave the Cougars a 40-35 lead.

Postgame Quotes

BYU head coach Dave Rose

"I thought it was a great college basketball game, a great atmosphere. Both teams battled hard and we were fortunate to make a few plays and win the game."

"I'm really proud of our team. I'm proud of these two seniors (Jimmer Fredette and Jackson Emery). They led us through some tough times with some injuries and illness over the week, but we came in here with a lot of confidence and we were able to get a big win for our team."

BYU guard Jimmer Fredette

"We have guys that can make shots, especially when they are open. A lot of times they were double teaming me and I was getting them the ball and they were wide open, so they are going to make shots if they are wide open. That was the key."

"We were just really, really excited to win this game. It's a huge game. Obviously two Top 10 teams at their place, they have not lost at home. Everyone was picking San Diego State to win so we were coming in kind of as the underdogs."

On the SDSU fan section:

"I just tried to block it out. I didn't really look up there at all until the end of the game when we won. That was the only time I looked up there. I just blocked it out and knew that it was going to be a great atmosphere with great fans. They love San Diego State basketball."

BYU guard Jackson Emery

"The most impressive thing to me was that they scored a lot of points and they hit a lot of open shots. San Diego State is so athletic, they are so big, but Noah and Charles, they took it to heart to really fought back, and I thought they did a terrific job rebounding as well."