BYU cracks top 25, takes down UNLV

January 6, 2010    By: Geoff J @ 10:20 pm   Category: Sports

I predicted before the season that this year’s BYU Men’s Hoops team would make it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament despite not winning an NCAA Tourney game since ’93. BYU is pulling through for me nicely so far. At the halfway point of the regular season BYU is 15-1, ranked in the top 25, and looking very strong. Tonight BYU took down MWC title contender UNLV by the score of 77-73. The win is impressive but much more so when you consider that BYU’s star player (Jimmer Fredette) wasn’t able to contribute much due to a bout with strep throat he is trying to recover from. In addition, the second best player on the team (Jackson Emery) was gimpy with an injured heel. So the win tonight was especially impressive with the role players and bench coming up big. Congratulations to the Cougs on a great win and a great first half of the season.

In other BYU hoops news: Jimmer Fredette broke the 48 year old BYU single game scoring record last week when he dropped 49 points on the Arizona Wildcats in Tucson. In so doing Jimmer also broke the scoring record in the McKale Center. The feat garnered Jimmer the National Player of the Week honor as well as the MWC player of the week award. I saw that game and it was a truly spectacular display. Congratulation to Jimmer on that.

And Go Cougs!

8 Comments

  1. Aiy. What has become of my wildcats.

    Comment by Jacob J — January 6, 2010 @ 11:24 pm

  2. It’s amazing to me how BYU is doing so well with an apparent decline from Tavernari. That guy was a stud the last two years, and now is mostly a solid role player.

    Comment by Ben — January 7, 2010 @ 4:56 am

  3. BYU beat UNLV without a great performance from Fredette. As you note, he had strep and was way under the weather — and his performance showed it. That BYU was deep enough to pull it off anyway is pretty impressive. With a 100% Fredette they’re a quantum leap beyond where they played. Their shooting percentage was off — but their defense was great.

    Comment by Blake — January 7, 2010 @ 8:48 am

  4. Credit to Tavernari, who came up BIG in the second half, including 3 big three pointers to get BYU back in the game. Credit as well to Noah Harsock, who has been a quiet, solid player and then was on fire until he was hit in the face on accident by a UNLV player. The hit to the face lit the crowd up though, and that was when I thought BYU would win. They played with grit and determination the whole game, but especially from that point on.

    Comment by TrevorM — January 7, 2010 @ 9:28 am

  5. The big rumor floating around the BYU message boards is that Jimmer has mono. If that is true is is really bad news. Mono can take months to overcome.

    Comment by Geoff J — January 7, 2010 @ 8:28 pm

  6. Not to mention that Jimmer’s backup, Lamont Morgan, was knocked silly by a pick in the early moments of the game and never returned to the game. I think we have a legitimate chance of beating them at UNLV this year if we are healthy when that time comes.

    Comment by Jeff B — January 8, 2010 @ 10:34 am

  7. Wow. It’s looking like it’s true. And just when the team was starting to show signs of greatness. That really sucks.

    Comment by Eric Russell — January 8, 2010 @ 10:34 am

  8. The guy who seems to be related to Jimmer over at Cougarboard reports hearing that it is a mild case of mono and Jimmer could even play Saturday.

    Comment by Geoff J — January 8, 2010 @ 4:48 pm