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Fredette poured in 43 points and No. 9 BYU earned its 10th straight win Wednesday with a 71-58 victory over fourth-ranked and previously unbeaten San Diego State.
BYU scored 71 points on Wednesday night. Jimmer Fredette scored 43 of them. If you weren’t already convinced he is the most valuable player in the nation, you can’t deny it any longer.
Even Kevin Durant knows it…
The Cougars pulled away late thanks to their supporting cast and, of course, Jimmer, to have the No. 4 San Diego State Aztecs their first loss of the season, 71-58.
Brandon Davies added 14 points in the win and the Cougars (20-1, 6-0 Mountain West Conference) remained undefeated since taking their only loss of the season December 18 to UCLA. The win was BYU’s 10th-straight
Kawhi Leonard scored 22 points with 15 rebounds to lead the Aztecs (20-1, 5-0).
For more post-game analysis and reaction, head on over to BYU blog Vanquish The Foe or Mountain West blog Mountain West Connection.
The match-up of Mountain West heavyweights is living up to the hype so far. With one half down, BYU’s Jimmer Fredette has 20 points and San Deigo State’s Kawhi Leonard has 13 in a 31-30 battle currently led by the Aztecs.
No other player has scored in double-digits. BYU’s Brandon Davies is closest with eight points.
The game itself has been a back-and-forth affair with no team leading by more than four points at any time.
The story is still Jimmer Fredette, though. He’s 8-of-12 from the field, including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. Whoever wasn’t aware of Jimmer before tonight certainly is now.
However if the Cougars want to outlast the Aztecs, someone else is going to have to step up from time to time. It remains to be seen if anyone will.
For more on the game, visit Mountain West Connection.
San Diego St. Aztecs forward Kawhi Leonard has been taking fluids from an IV and vomiting in advance of tonight’s game against the BYU Cougars, but he is expected to take the court. If he can’t go the Aztecs will be without their top scorer and rebounder and a large presence inside that can stall some of Jimmer Fredette’s drives.
(Yes, we’re aware BYU has players besides Jimmer Fredette. But Jimmer Fredette!)
Leonard won’t be 100 percent, if he does play. He had to skip warmups before the game due to his flu-like symptoms. But as big as this game is for the San Diego State program, it’s hard to image a player as important as Leonard sitting it out for any reason. Hopefully this doesn’t stir up a Jay Cutler debate, though.
The game will tip off very shortly, with or without Leonard.
For more on the game, visit Mountain West Connection.
The potential college basketball game of the week between the San Diego St. Aztecs and BYU Cougars is expected to be a close matchup between two very different squads. Jimmer Fredette’s red-hot offense takes on SDSU’s tough D in one of the biggest games in Mountain West Conference basketball history.
Vegas had the Cougars by 4.5 earlier in the week, though that spread has grown to 5.5 by gameday. Home field advantage, plus the potential Player of the Year, plus … well, who’s ever heard of San Diego State being a big-name school in a game like this? No offense, but people bet based on brand as much as they do on X’s and O’s.
If the Aztecs’ dream season can continue — remember, this is the team that had never been ranked in the AP top 25 until this year — they’ll need to prove they can compete against the best their conference has to offer.
Visit Mountain West Connection for more on the game of the night.
The most-hyped player in tonight’s San Diego State-BYU game, Jimmer Fredette (maybe you’ve heard of him?), comes in as hot as a Jimmer can be. He’s scored more than 40 points in two of his last three games, both road Mountain West events. He’s also gone for 30 or more in four of the last seven, and 25 or more in nine of the last 12.
Fredette Player of the Year talk is heating up, but let’s not forget SDSU is undefeated for a reason.
The Aztecs are led by sophomore forward Kawhi Leonard and senior guard D.J. Gay. Leonard averages 15.7 points points and 10.3 rebounds, while Gay adds 12.8 points and a team-high 3.2 assists. The offense does often travel through Leonard, who averages a couple assists of his own per night.
And that’s doesn’t account for SDSU’s knack for forcing bad shots. Defense wins championships but doesn’t always get attention, and the Aztecs have one of the nation’s best. Whether it’s good enough to limit Fredette is a whole ‘nother story, as the only times he’s been held below 20 points this year have been in comfortable Cougars wins.
There we go talking about Jimmer Fredette again.
For more on this game, visit Mountain West Connection.
GAME NOTES: For the first time in the history of the Marriott Center, the facility is hosting a game between a pair of top-10 programs as the undefeated and fourth-ranked San Diego State Aztecs stop by to visit the ninth-ranked BYU Cougars for perhaps the biggest regular-season game in Mountain West Conference history.
Along with top-ranked Ohio State, the Aztecs are the only team in the nation still yet to suffer a loss and are currently enjoying one of the longest win streaks in the country at 20-0. Off to their best start in school history, the Aztecs have been out of action for a week since defeating Air Force by a score of 68-55 at home. With the victory over the academy, SDSU moved to 5-0 in conference, which is where the Cougars find themselves as well.
Aside from a neutral-site loss to UCLA in Anaheim in the middle of December, the Cougars have led a charmed life in 2010-11 as well. A 94-85 win over Colorado State at Moby Arena last Saturday was the team's ninth in a row and the 19th on the season overall. Voted the ninth-best team in the country this week, the Cougars are enjoying their highest ranking since the 1987-88 season.
With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, the Cougars have taken a 46-22 advantage over SDSU, having won two in a row and five of the last six encounters. The teams are scheduled to meet again in San Diego a month from now.
After putting up 30 points in the win over New Mexico, D.J. Gay followed up with a team-best 20 points in the victory versus Air Force at home last week, marking the first time in Gay's career that he's logged at least 20 points in back-to-back games. Billy White contributed with 12 points and Kawhi Leonard registered yet another double-double with his 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds as the Aztecs dominated the glass as expected, 34-20. If there was a hitch in SDSU's efforts it was at the free-throw line where the squad was a mere 7-of-16. A starter in all 19 games in which he has appeared, Leonard is averaging a double-double for the Aztecs with 15.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per contest. Active in all phases of the game, Leonard is also second on the team with 50 assists and paces the group with 29 steals so he is always giving it his all at both ends of the floor. Gay is now up to 12.8 ppg, followed by Malcolm Thomas who delivers 11.9 ppg and provides some added muscle in the paint with 8.1 rpg.
While the Aztecs tend to attack opponents with brute force, BYU is a bit more calculating and operates with much more finesse, just ask All-America candidate Jimmer Fredette who finished with an incredible 42 points in the win over Colorado State last Saturday night. Fredette, who has the freedom to let fly with shots from anywhere and everywhere, connected on 4-of-9 tries from behind the three-point line, and all but one of his 17 free-throw chances as he reached the 40-point plateau for the second time in a span of just three games. Also having strong games versus the Rams were Jackson Emery and Kyle Collinsworth with 16 points apiece, and Brandon Davies with 12 and a team-best nine boards. The top scorer in the nation, Fredette is producing a whopping 26.7 ppg right now, thanks to 41.0 percent accuracy beyond the arc and an even 90 percent at the free-throw line. When opponents are able to slow down Fredette, the Cougars then turn to Emery (13.0 ppg) and Davies (11.3 ppg) who are able to go on the offensive as well. Because BYU is much more than Fredette, the team is one of the top scoring groups in the country with 85.2 ppg.
The Aztecs are bound to try and slow the pace of this game in order to limit the number of touches by Fredette, but even so SDSU will have to do even more than that to keep its unbeaten streak alive in a hostile environment.
GAME NOTES: For the first time in the history of the Marriott Center, the facility is hosting a game between a pair of top-10 programs as the undefeated and fourth-ranked San Diego State Aztecs stop by to visit the ninth-ranked BYU Cougars for perhaps the biggest regular-season game in Mountain West Conference history.
FACTS & STATS: Site: Marriott Center (22,700) -- Provo, Utah. Television: CBS College Sports. Home Record: SDSU 9-0, BYU 8-0. Away Record: SDSU 7-0, BYU 6-0. Neutral Record: SDSU 4-0, BYU 5-1. Conference Record: SDSU 5-0, BYU 5-0. Series Record: BYU leads, 46-22.
BYU 78, San Diego State 72
VIDEO: Jimmer Fredette Drains Threes At Will In BYU's Win Over San Diego State
Jimmer Fredette has become must-watch television anytime BYU basketball plays. To further solidify this statement as fact, Fredette dropped 43 points on No. 4 ranked San Diego State on Wednesday night in what was possibly the biggest game in Mountain West Conference history. Here are just a few of Jimmer’s video highlights, which include a ridiculous crossover at the 32-second mark to set himself up for an open three:
Fredette is now averaging 27 points per game, and has scored 40 or more in three of his last four games. Kevin Durant is even taking to Twitter to call Jimmer the “best scorer in the world.” That is obviously an exaggeration, but he’s clearly the best scorer in college basketball.
Your next chance to see Jimmer and BYU is in two days. The Cougars take on New Mexico at 4 p.m. ET and it’s being television on Versus. Be sure to watch.
Jan 27 9:30a by Chris Mottram - 1 comment