Player Notes
-Jimmer Fredette scored 11 points in the first 7 minutes of play to give BYU a 20-10 lead with 13:10 remaining in the first half. Fredette would finish with 20 points in the first half, his highest first half scoring output this season. The performance gave him his 10th double-digit scoring night this season and 6th 20+ point game this season. With 10:01 remaining, Fredette finished with 33 points on the night, his season-high. The senior guard made a three-point jumper that gave him his second 30+ scoring night this season.
-Kyle Collinsworth scored 12 points on the night to give the freshman his fourth double-digit scoring game this season. He hit 5-of-7 from the field.
-Brandon Davies finished with 11 points in the contest, his fifth double-digit scoring night this season.
-Fredette also tied his season-high in rebounds in the first half alone with 5 boards. Fredette would finish with 9 rebounds giving him a career-high in the victory.
-Jackson Emery recorded 4 steals with his 6th game this season with 3+ steals.
-Fredette extended his longest free throw streak of the season to 20 consecutive free throws made but broke the streak with 12:40 minutes remaining.
-James Anderson finished with 6 boards, 3 points, 2 blocks and 1 steal in a season-best 25 minutes.
Team Notes
-Dave Rose and staff started Fredette, Emery, K. Collinsworth, Noah Hartsock and Brandon Davies for the fifth time this season. This starting lineup is now 5-0.
-BYU shot 55.6 percent in the first half, their second highest first half shooting percentage this season. The Cougars shot 51.8 percent from the field, their third-straight game shooting 50.0 percent or better and fourth in the last five games.
Record Watch
-With 16:35 remaining in the first half Fredette surpassed Mekeli Wesley to become the 7th highest scorer in BYU history with 1742 career points. Wesley scored 1740 points during his career as a Cougar. Fredette now has 1,768 career points.
-The victory gave BYU head coach Dave Rose his 137th career win tying him for 5th in all-time coaching victories at BYU. Rose is tied with Glen Potter who coached the Cougars from 1972-1975.
-With 420 career free throws made, Fredette now ranks 8th all-time for BYU. With 1:06 remaining in the first half, Fredette made his 415th free throw as a Cougar to pass Mark Bigelow, who made 414 shots from the charity stripe during his time at BYU.
Game Trends
-The Cougars took an early 12-4 lead to start the game in large part due to Fredette’s 7 points in the first 4:25 of the game on 3-of-3 shooting. The Wildcats battled back to pull within four with the score 14-10 but BYU would go on a 14-0 run, forcing the Wildcats to call a timeout.
-At the half, the Cougars led by 19 points, 44-25, which was their largest lead of the half.
-With 9:26 remaining, Emery took an elbow to the face from a Wildcat after a free-throw attempt, which resulted in an intentional foul. After Emery made the two free throws, the Cougars retained possession and Fredette hit his third trey of the day to give BYU a 75-55 lead.
Postgame Quotes
BYU Head Coach Dave Rose
“It’s a good team win and we can build on it. We have a couple days off for finals and look forward to next Saturday.”
“I thought we could play some zone tonight, but they are really good three-point shooters. I didn’t think we’d be able to play as much as we did. Our guys were really active. We got our hands on deflected passes and I think it made them a little passive.”
“They started hitting shots in the second half. One thing that’s hard for us to do is rebound out of that zone and tonight, for as many shots as they missed, they only had 13 offensive rebounds and I thought that was very good for us.”
BYU guard Jimmer Fredette
“I was able to have another good game tonight. I was able to shoot the ball well and got started off quickly. I don’t know if it is anything against Arizona, but I was able to have another good night.”
“It was a very important game for us to show them that we’re for real and that we’re ready to play. They are a very talented team and they’ll do well in the Pac-10 this year. We knew we would have to give our best efforts to win.”
Arizona Head Coach Sean Miller
“He (Jimmer Fredette) is a terrific guard. Today was just another example of how well he can play offensively. He makes everything easier for his team and we just had no answer for him today. We tried to guard him as a team but he is clever with the ball in his hands and has a good supporting cast.”
“This year we have really attacked the zone well but could not hit open shots tonight. We did not convert some early opportunities and it built against us quickly in this environment. We have to move the ball better to be successful.”
“Their (BYU) ranking and record speaks for itself. BYU is one of the elite programs in the country and they showed it tonight. They are a good team and are well coached. They play great team defense and have a good crowd to support them.”