PROVO -- The BYU men’s basketball team hit the ground running against TCU, opening the game with a 10-0 lead over the Horned Frogs thanks to strong team play and never looking back, beating TCU 76-56.
BYU was lead by Jimmer Fredette with 26 points. Noah Hartsock also contributed 14 points for the Cougars while Jackson Emery chipped in 12 points. Senior Chris Miles led the BYU effort on the boards with a career-high 11 rebounds.
“It was a good win for our team,” Cougar head coach Dave Rose said following the game. “It was a quick turnaround from Saturday but I was pleased with our team. We were able to defend, get some rebounds and hang on for the win.”
The offensive success that BYU found in Saturday’s game against Utah continued into the opening minutes of the contest versus TCU. Emery led the offensive explosion with two threes in the first five minutes of the game while also leading BYU on the defensive end with two early steals. With seven minutes to play, BYU led 21-13 and had assisted on each of their first seven field goals with Emery leading the Cougars with three assists.
With a relatively comfortable lead, Rose began to showcase the depth of his bench which scored 13 points in the first half, including two treys by Lamont Morgan, Jr., and a three-pointer by Jonathan Tavernari. Morgan is currently 9-for-12 from long range on the year.
With 2:45 left to play in the first half Emery hit a three-point bucket of his own to give BYU their largest lead of the half at 33-19. The Cougars held onto their 14-point lead to go into the break ahead, 35-21.
TCU came out of the locker room revitalized, scoring five unanswered to open the half. BYU was unable to make a field goal for the first 3:36 of the half until turning to their post players. Hartsock made a jumper to end the drought and give the Cougars a 38-26 lead. During the subsequent play, Chris Miles made a turnaround jumper to extend the BYU lead.
The Cougars’ 40-28 lead was too close for comfort for Fredette. The junior guard, who had scored six points in the first half, went to work, making a layup followed by a three-point basket.
"We started to figure out how they were going to guard Jimmer and late in the game we started to run what we thought would work best based on the way they were guarding him," Rose said. "It's good to have Jimmer out there running things."
The Horned Frogs cut the BYU lead to 10 with 8:14 remaining but Fredette responded, making a trey and extending the lead to 13. TCU answered with a three-pointer of their own with seven minutes left to play. The Horned Frogs would cut the lead to eight but once again Fredette answered hitting yet another three-point basket.
In the final minute of the game Fredette hit an NBA-range three-pointer for his 20th point of the half, sealing the 20-point victory.
The Cougars hit the road to play at UNLV on Saturday, Feb. 6, at 1 p.m. PST. The game will be televised live on Versus. It will also be broadcast on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM or via the Internet at KSL.com.
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Official Basketball Box Score
TCU vs BYU COUGARS
02/02/10 7:02 pm at Marriott Center, Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: TCU 10-13, 2-6 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
21 CERINA, Nikola...... f 2-7 0-0 2-4 2 4 6 4 6 0 1 3 0 29
24 BUTLER, Kevin....... f 0-3 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 3 0 1 0 0 1 16
02 ROBERSON, Xavier.... g 3-7 2-4 0-0 0 0 0 3 8 0 1 0 2 19
05 MOSS, Ronnie........ g 4-14 0-4 2-2 0 4 4 1 10 7 4 0 0 37
13 RUZGAS, Edvinas..... g 1-4 0-1 0-0 1 4 5 3 2 0 2 0 0 23
15 BULJAN, Zvonko...... 3-14 0-3 1-2 0 9 9 1 7 0 1 2 0 29
22 MITCHEM, Keion...... 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 1 1 0 1 0 2 1 0 8
25 HILL, Greg.......... 5-7 1-3 0-0 1 3 4 2 11 0 0 0 1 20
33 GREEN, Garlon....... 3-4 0-1 5-5 1 2 3 2 11 0 0 0 0 19
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 21-60 3-16 11-15 8 28 36 19 56 8 11 6 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-28 35.7% 2nd Half: 11-32 34.4% Game: 35.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-8 12.5% 2nd Half: 2-8 25.0% Game: 18.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 0-2 0.0% 2nd Half: 11-13 84.6% Game: 73.3% 2
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HOME TEAM: BYU COUGARS 22-2, 7-1 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
23 HAWS, Tyler......... f 0-4 0-2 0-0 0 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 12
34 HARTSOCK, Noah...... f 6-9 0-1 2-2 3 3 6 1 14 0 2 1 1 30
54 MILES, Chris........ c 1-5 0-0 1-2 3 8 11 2 3 2 0 0 0 22
04 EMERY, Jackson...... g 4-9 4-8 0-0 2 2 4 1 12 6 1 2 2 37
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer.... g 8-17 4-6 6-6 0 4 4 0 26 3 1 0 1 29
00 DAVIES, Brandon..... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
01 ABOUO, Charles...... 0-4 0-2 5-6 1 3 4 3 5 3 1 1 1 20
02 MORGAN, JR., Lamont. 2-3 2-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 6 2 0 0 0 11
10 LOYD, JR., Michael.. 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5
15 ANDERSON, James..... 1-3 0-0 2-2 2 1 3 1 4 1 1 1 0 10
45 TAVERNARI, Jonathan. 2-7 1-4 1-3 0 4 4 2 6 1 2 0 0 21
TEAM................ 1 4 5
Totals.............. 24-62 11-25 17-21 12 33 45 11 76 19 8 5 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-33 39.4% 2nd Half: 11-29 37.9% Game: 38.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 7-14 50.0% 2nd Half: 4-11 36.4% Game: 44.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 15-19 78.9% Game: 81.0% 2
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Officials: Mark Whitehead, Rick Hartzell, Mike Reed
Technical fouls: TCU-None. BYU COUGARS-None.
Attendance: 11454
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
TCU........................... 21 35 - 56
BYU COUGARS................... 35 41 - 76
Points in the paint-TC 24,BY 18. Points off turnovers-TC 6,BY 11.
2nd chance points-TC 4,BY 12. Fast break points-TC 4,BY 4.
Bench points-TC 30,BY 21. Score tied-0 times. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-TC 2nd-01:41, BY 2nd-00:21.
Largest lead-TC None, BY by 20 2nd-00:21.