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With a nod to the Las Vegas-based band, BYU's two senior guards were a deadly duo last night at the Thomas & Mack Center. Jimmer Fredette and Jackson Emery combined for 13 three-pointers and 61 points in BYU's 89-77 win at UNLV.
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Yes, Jimmer Fredette saw what Tre'von Willis said about him leading up to the game, about Jimmer "supposedly" being the best player in the Mountain West.
Fredette saw it, heard about it, was reminded of it. Not that it was the sole reason Jimmer went for 39, but Tre', did you really want to give the "baby-faced assassin" another bullet in his motivation chamber?
(by the way, word is Willis went off on his teammates in the UNLV locker room, claiming to have been the only UNLV player to have effectively guarded Fredette in the game. Willis' own 4/16 shooting was evidently not factored into his tirade)
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Fredette's point-a-minute display was at the same time spectacular and expected; just another night of drifting three-pointers, dazzling drives and cold-blooded 25- to 30 footers, all part of the "Jimmer Show," which played on the Strip before almost 18-thousand fans, many of whom headed for the exits as BYU stretched a second-half lead to 21 points.
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BYU's 89-point output seemed unlikely with the score 25-15 in UNLV's favor with under six minutes to play before halftime. With 5:04 remaining in the first half, Fredette scored a lay-in to make the score 29-19 for UNLV, and that shot lit the fuse. Over the final 5:04 of the half, Fredette scored 14 of 21 BYU points. In the first 6:38 of the second half, Fredette scored nine of BYU's 19 points.
Over the span of 11:38, BYU outscored UNLV 40-15, turning a ten-point deficit into a 15-point lead. Fredette had 23 of the 40 points, and BYU was on its way to snapping an eight-game, almost six-year run of frustration on the Rebels' home floor.
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As thrilling as Fredette's big night was, and as much attention as it is bringing to himself and the BYU Basketball team, the Cougars won thanks to the new "Big Three," with Jackson Emery's 22 points and Brandon Davies' double-double (15 pts, 10 rebounds) supplementing Jimmer's playground pyrotechnics.
Emery was back in the starting lineup after finally being allowed to go full speed in practice, his right leg healing and allowing Emery to regain his rhythm, as evidenced by his six of nine night from the three-point line.
I speculated on-air before the game that Fredette and Emery would each play 35-40 minutes, and that Fredette might not come off the floor. I was a little off; Emery only played 34 minutes, and Fredette actually got a nine-second rest in the first half.
Noah Hartsock played 37 minutes, with a workmanlike six-point, seven-rebound effort highlighted by a three-pointer that capped a comeback run and gave BYU a 35-34 lead 80 seconds before halftime.
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It was finally a night for the Cougars to play "BYU Basketball" at UNLV. Over eight consecutive losses on the Rebels' home hardwoods, BYU was averaging fewer than 67 points per game, never scoring more than 75 in any one game.
Over the eight straight losses, BYU had been outshot by UNLV from the field, the arc and the free-throw stripe. Last night, BYU held the upper hand in all three categories, and nearly scored 90 against one of the best field goal defense teams in the country. The Rebels had been allowing an average of 60 points per game; BYU scored 51—in the second half.
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BYU's nationally-televised win has boosted the Cougars' RPI to 2 in Jerry Palm's collegerpi.com calculations, and a weekend win over Air Force would ensure that the Cougars creep ever closer to the Top 10 in the national polls.
Jimmer Fredette has the distinctive game to match his unique name, and both he and the Cougars are on college basketball's "hot list." These are heady times for BYU hoops, with the program on pace for a top five seed in the NCAA Tournament, and the Cougars' star player in the mix for national Player of the Year honors.
If Fredette is the best BYU player since Danny Ainge, it is not unreasonable to hope that BYU can duplicate the 1980-81 Ainge-led Cougars' run deep into the Dance. 30 years later, the Sweet 16 appears to be a realistic possibility.
Of course, the only "16" on the mind of Coach Dave Rose and his team is the 16-game MWC schedule, and BYU is only one game into what promises to be an arduous grind through the upper half of the league. But Rose knows that the win at UNLV is a shot across the conference bow: BYU went in and got one that few teams get, and seeing as BYU has won the league three times without winning in Las Vegas, the Cougars have a notable leg up in the conference title chase.
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Next up for BYU: Air Force at home on Saturday afternoon. It is KSL "Family Day," with ticket prices as follows: $10 for below concourse chair seats, $5 for above concourse chair seats, and $1 for above concourse bench seats.
With this ticket deal in place, with BYU at 15-1 and in the Top 15, with Jimmer Fredette down to only eight remaining home games, and as a reward for the win last night, BYU fans need to show up at least 20,000 strong on Saturday--I'm counting on you!
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Leftovers:
Fredette has six 35+ point games in his BYU career, tied with Ainge for the second most in BYU Basketball history. Devin Durrant had eight such games as a Cougar.
Fredette also has 12 30+ point games, tied with Ainge for second most alltime. Mike Smith and Devin Durrant lead with 17 games of 30-plus.
Fredette has scored in double figures in 21 consecutive games.
Emery has hit on 16 of his last 28 from the three point line, after going eight for his previous 28 from distance.
Fredette has made the midseason cut list for the Wooden Award.
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A personal post-script: some of you may have heard that the case containing all of my broadcast gear, road printer, and other equipment went missing from the Las Vegas airport.
Upon arrival in Las Vegas, the airport monitors and carousel monitor directed us to the wrong luggage carousel. After waiting at the wrong carousel for a period of time, we discovered that our bags had been sent to a different carousel, but by that time, someone had already taken my suitcase and equipment case. My suitcase was recovered by a watchful airport employee courtside, but my case was never recovered.
Fortunately, UNLV play-by-play man Jon Sadler assisted me in rounding up bare bones replacement gear with which to get on the air, and despite a few technical hiccups (that included me broadcasting via cell phone for a few minutes in the first half), the broadcast made it on the air, and I am grateful that the Cougars made it such a memorable one.
There is still time for the case to show up again at some point, but it doesn't look too good right now, and the loss of equipment is substantial. The KSL engineers will do their best to assemble replacement gear for the remainder of the season, but I can't properly describe how disappointed I am to be without something that I have guarded with vigilance and care for upwards of 15 years--equipment that is of little to no use to anyone but me.
There are only two possibilities: someone mistakenly grabbed my case while offloading similar cases, in which case the mistake should have been discovered and rectified by now...or someone stole it. The first scenario is plausible but increasingly doubtful. The second scenario is hard for me to fathom. Either way, like a craftsman without his tool box, I'm at a loss, and starting from scratch.
The silver lining?: 89-77. Scoreboard always feels good.
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