Game 33 - Cougars Open MWC Tourney with TCU

Cougars Open MWC Tournament Thursday vs. TCU

No. 14/15 BYU men’s basketball (28-4, 13-3 MWC) enters the MWC Tournament at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas as the No. 2 seed. The Cougars open tournament play against No. 7 seed TCU on Thursday, March 11, at 6 p.m. PST. The game can be heard live on KSL Newsradio beginning with the pregame show at 5 p.m. PST on 102.7 FM and 1160 AM or via the Internet at KSL.com. The game will be televised live on The Mtn.

Up Next

If BYU wins the Cougars will face the winner of No. 3 seed UNLV vs. No. 6 seed Utah on Friday, March 12 at 8:30 p.m. PST. That game will be broadcast live on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM or via the Internet at KSL.com. The game will be televised live on CBS College Sports.

Cougar Quick Hits

— At 28-4 overall, BYU has tied the program record for wins in a season (set in 1950-51) and has the best record in program history through 32 games. This also marks the fourth-straight season with 25-plus wins, a program record.

— Jimmer Fredette set BYU single-game records with 49 points and nine threes against Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl Classic in Tucson, Ariz., at the McKale Center. BYU handed Arizona its worst loss at the McKale Center, 99-69.

— Fredette is 14th all-time in scoring at BYU with 1,398 career points. He leads the conference in scoring at 20.6 points per game. He is also fourth at BYU in career threes (162), 10th in assists (337) and 12th in steals (114).

— Junior guard Jackson Emery has 85 steals this season, a BYU record for steals in a season. The previous record was 66, set by Marty Haws in 1989-90. He is fourth in career steals with 142.

— Two-time MWC Coach of the Year Dave Rose has guided BYU to three-straight MWC regular season titles and three-straight trips to the NCAA Tournament. Under Rose, BYU also has five-straight 20-win seasons and four-straight postseason appearances. At 125-38 (.767) overall, he is BYU’s all-time leader in winning percentage.

— Senior forward Jonathan Tavernari became BYU’s all-time leader in three-pointers with two treys vs. San Francisco to give him 214. He is now at 258 after hitting five threes at TCU. He is also climbing the lists for points (12th with 1,493) and steals (3rd with 158).

— With the win at TCU, Jonathan Tavernari played in his 101st BYU victory — first in school history. Tavernari’s teams have won 105 games, the best four-year stretch in program history.

BYU Game #33 Fast Facts

No. 14/15 BYU (28-4, 13-3) vs. TCU (13-18, 5-11)

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Thomas & Mack Center (18,500)

Las Vegas

6 p.m. PST

Coaches

BYU, Dave Rose (125-38 in fifth season; same overall)

TCU, Jim Christian (27-35 in second season; 165-93 in eighth season overall)

Series

BYU leads 15-3, with the Cougars sweeping the season series, 76-56 in Provo and 107-77 at TCU

TV

Live on The Mtn. (James Bates, play-by-play; Joe Cravens, analyst; Anne Marie Anderson, sideline reporter)

Radio

KSL Newsradio (102.7 FM/1160 AM and online at KSL.com) and the Cougar Sports Network (5 p.m. PST pregame show — Greg Wrubell, play-by-play; Mark Durrant, game analysis)

Web

Live stats links are available on the basketball schedule page at www.byucougars.com/basketball_m/

Looking at TCU

TCU concluded the regular season at 13-18 overall and 5-11 in the Mountain West Conference. The Frogs have dropped four of five, losing to San Diego State at home, at UNLV, defeating Colorado State at home and losing at New Mexico and at home to BYU. Ronnie Moss leads the team in scoring (14.6 ppg) and assists (6.0 apg) while Zvonko Buljan adds 12.4 ppg and a team-best 8.6 rpg. Edvinas Ruzgas also averages double figures (10.7 ppg) and has made 59 threes while shooting .418 from downtown. Greg Hill adds 7.9 ppg, while Nikola Cerina and Kevin Butler contribute 5.8 and 5.2 ppg, respectively. As a team TCU averages 67.2 ppg and 32.1 rpg while shooting .442 from the field, .347 from three and .693 from the free throw line. Opponents average 70.1 ppg and 33.3 rpg against the Frogs while shooting .465 from the field, .336 from three and .671 from the free throw line. Jim Christian is in his second season at TCU where he is 27-35.

TCU’s Last Outing — Frogs Fall to Cougars in Regular Season Finale

FORT WORTH, Texas - The Horned Frogs had five players in double figures, but it was not enough as TCU dropped a 107-77 decision to nationally-ranked BYU on Senior Night at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum on Saturday evening. The Frogs played some of their best basketball in the first four minutes of the game as TCU connected on 7-of-7 from the field en route to jumping out to a 15-2 advantage at the 17:13 mark. Following a three-pointer by Keion Mitchem at the 12:12 mark, the Frogs were able to maintain an 11-point advantage at 26-15, but the Cougars were able to respond with a 9-0 run to cut the lead to two points at 26-24 with 9:59 left in the first half. After tying the game at 29-29 at the 8:23 mark following a three-pointer by Jackson Emery, the Cougars doubled up the Frogs by a 28-14 margin for the remainder of the half to take a 57-43 lead into intermission. In the second half, the Cougars continued their hot-shooting as they extended the lead to 24 points at 69-45 with 17:13 left in the game following a pair of free throws by Jimmer Fredette. The Cougars never looked back as they ran away with the 107-77 victory. Ronnie Moss finished with a team-high 17 points, including a trio of three-pointers, to go along with two assists in 26 minutes of action. Zvonko Buljan notched 11 points to go along with six rebounds and two steals in his final game at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. Edvinas Ruzgas, Nikola Cerina and Greg Hill all finished with 10 points to pace the Frogs. Jonathan Tavernari finished with a game-high 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-8 from behind the three-point line, to go along with three assists and two steals in 30 minutes of action. Emery notched 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting to go along with five assists, five steals and two blocked shots in 31 minutes of action. Charles Abouo collected 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting to go along with five rebounds and three assists in 26 minutes of court time. As a team, BYU connected on 62.3 percent (38-of-61) of its field goal attempts, including 56.5 percent (13-of-23) of its three-point field goal tries. The Cougars connected on 72.0 percent (18-of-25) of their field goal attempts over the final 20 minutes of action. The Frogs connected on 49.1 percent (28-of-57) of their field goal attempts, including 59.3 percent (16-of-27) in the first half of action. However, TCU was only able to connect on 40.0 percent (12-of-30) of their field goal attempts in the second half of action. The Frogs committed a season-high 24 turnovers in the game, which resulted in 32 points for the Cougars.

Series Notes

BYU leads the all-time series against TCU 15-3. The Cougars have won 12 straight games against the Horned Frogs, including a WAC Tournament game in 1999 and 11-straight under Dave Rose. BYU extended the streak with a 107-77 win at TCU on March 6. BYU leads the series 2-1 in neutral games. The Cougars defeated TCU 77-64 in the MWC in 2007.

One Win From A New record

At 28-4 on the season, the 2009-10 BYU men’s basketball squad has set the Cougar record for regular season wins and tied the overall record for wins. The 2007-08 team set the previous regular season record with 25 regular season victories and finished 27-8 after the postseason. The 1950-51 team was 24-7 in the regular season and finished with a program record 28 wins to go with nine losses.

New Record for Thievery

With a steal at Colorado State, Jackson Emery broke the BYU record for steals in a single season. The record was previously held by Marty Haws, who had 66 steals in 1989-90. Emery now has 85 steals this season.

33-Point Games

Jimmer Fredette’s 36 points at Colorado State was his fifth game with 33-plus points this season. He is fifth all-time in BYU history for 33-point games and his five this season are the most by a BYU junior in a single season and the third-most in any BYU season. Devin Durrant had 11 33-point games as a senior in 1983-84 and Dick Nemelka had six as a senior in 1965-66.

Best Record Through 32 Games

At 28-4 overall, BYU men’s basketball has the best record in program history through 32 games. The 1987-88 and 2007-08 teams held the previous best record in program history through 32 games at 26-6. See below for the other best records through 32 games.

In the Rankings

BYU men’s basketball entered the top-25 rankings for the first time this season on Jan. 4 at No. 25 in the AP Poll and No. 23 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. The Cougars are currently ranked No. 14 in the AP Poll and No. 15 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. BYU has been ranked as high as No. 12 in the AP Poll and No. 10 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. Rose has led his teams to the rankings in each of the last four seasons to become the first Cougar coach to lead BYU into the rankings in four-straight seasons.

BYU as a Ranked Team

BYU owns a 151-61 record as a ranked team, including 14-3 this season. The Cougars are 86-13 at home, 43-30 on the road and 22-18 at neutral sites when nationally ranked. BYU is 23-9 as a ranked team under Dave Rose.

Consecutive Weeks Ranked

BYU entered the rankings on Jan. 4 and has been ranked ever since, a streak of 10-consecutive weeks — the third longest streak in a single season since the 1980-81 and 1971-72 teams that were ranked for 15-straight weeks and the 1979-80 team that was ranked for 14-straight weeks. The Cougars were ranked for 30-consecutive weeks (not including preseason polls) over three seasons from the first week of the 1979-80 season to the first week of the 1981-82 season.

1,000-Point Scorers

With 23 points at TCU, Jonathan Tavernari has 1,493 career points and is 12th all-time in scoring at BYU. He is 20 points from passing Kresimir Cosic for 11th all-time. After scoring 18 points at TCU, Jimmer Fredette has 1,398 career points, good for 14th all-time in program history. He is 11 points from passing Jay Cheesman for 13th all-time.

Downtown Record Watch

Jonathan Tavernari hit two threes vs. San Francisco to become BYU’s all-time leader in career threes, passing Mark Bigelow who had 213 for his career. He is also the leader for career attempts. Tavernari owns the record for threes in a season with 88 in 2007-08. He now has 258 makes and 678 attempts. Jimmer Fredette is fourth with 162 makes and is third with 406 attempts.

Top-10 Pick Pockets

Senior forward Jonathan Tavernari had three steals at TCU to give him 158 for his career. He is third all-time in BYU history. Jackson Emery is fourth with 142 while Jimmer Fredette is 12th with 114.

When Jimmer Scores 20...

Jimmer Fredette had 26 points vs. San Diego State, his 18th 20-point game this season and 26th of his career. He has reached 33-plus points five times this season. BYU is 22-4 when Fredette scores 20 or more points.

BYU Freshman Scoring Leaders

With 365 points this season, Tyler Haws is on pace to become one of the highest scoring freshmen in BYU history. He is currently seventh and six points from passing Devin Durrant.