POSTGAME NOTES
BYU vs. Texas A&M
NCAA First Round
March 20, 2008
- Jonathan Tavernari made his 29th start of the year, joining Ben Murdock, Sam Burgess, Lee Cummard and Trent Plaisted in the starting five. The latter four have started every game this season. Cummard and Plaisted also started last year's NCAA First Round game against Xavier.
- Individual Career Highs: Jimmer Fredette 5 rebounds; Chris Collinsworth - 3 assists (tied).
- NCAA Tournament History -- With the loss, BYU is now 11-26 all-time in 23 NCAA Tournament appearances. The Cougars have lost in the first round in their last six NCAA Tournament appearances. BYU is 7-16 in first-round play.
- BYU's 27-8 record this season is the second-best 35-game record in program history (1950-51 team went 28-7 before posting final record of 28-9). This year's Cougars set the program record for regular-season victories with 25.
- In addition to their 16-0 home record this year and 47 straight Marriott Center victories, the Cougars finished the year 11-8 away from the Marriott Center this season, including an 8-5 road record and a 3-3 mark on neutral floors. BYU won eight of its last 11 games away from home.
- The Cougars added to their school-record season three-point total with seven treys against the Aggies, bringing their season mark to 285. BYU has hit at least five treys in 33 of 35 games this year.
- The 29-29 halftime score marked just the second time this season BYU has been tied at the break (29-29 at San Diego State). The Cougars have held their opponents under 30 first-half points in 23 games.
- Jonathan Tavernari added to his school and MWC sophomore record for threes in a season with three against the Aggies, bringing his total to 88. Tavernari has hit at least three treys in 14 games this season. Tavernari and Cummard have each made at least one three-pointer in 32 of 35 games.
- With a putback dunk at the 13:55 mark, Cummard surpassed 1,000 career points, becoming the 38th member of BYU's 1,000 Point Club and just the 11th Cougar of four-year players to reach the milestone as a junior. Fellow junior Trent Plaisted reached 1,000 career points earlier this season.
- Cummard has now scored in double figures in 32 of 35 games this season.
- After missing their first eight shots and 12 of their first 14 from the field, the Cougars made 10 of their last 13 shots in the first half while climbing back from an 11-point deficit to take a three-point lead. BYU made six straight shots at one point during the comeback capped by a three-pointer from Tavernari to knot the score at 26-26.
POSTGAME QUOTES
BYU Head Coach Dave Rose
"It was a very competitive game. Both teams played really hard and they got off to a really good start, hit some big shots. But we were able to fight back and get in to the game, get a lead, and then it came down to the last couple minutes of the game."
"They made some big shots and got some big rebounds. We competed really hard but they made a few more plays than we did. They are big and physical players and at critical times they made critical plays."
"I thought Jimmer played with a lot of confidence. Ben has had that ankle issue for the last couple weeks that has slowed him down just a bit. When Jimmer came in we hadn't scored in a while and we were looking for a little bit of a lift. I thought he did a good job of providing that for us."
"I talked with our team after the game about the great things this team has done this year. It's not going to make anybody feel much better right now, but I wanted those guys to leave the locker room just knowing how proud our staff is of what they've accomplished. We won a lot of games, won back-to-back Mountain West Conference regular season championships. We beat a team ranked in the top 10 for the first time in a long while. We've got a nice homecourt winning streak going. There's a lot of good things that are going on with BYU basketball. Those are some of the things we tried to reflect on in the locker room."
Texas A&M Head Coach Mark Turgeon
"That was a great win for us. We beat a really, really good BYU team. I think they won 13 out of 14 coming into this game. And about the 10-minute mark they took a two-point lead and I was a little worried."
"We really rebounded in the second half. We boxed out. Our guards helped us rebound."
"Offensively we were as good as we've been in a long while executing. Our execution down the stretch tonight was phenomenal. I mean, we got the ball right where we wanted, we made plays, and against a really good defensive team. They are only giving up about 38 percent field-goal percentage for the year and we shot 54 percent on them. We did a nice job tonight."