BYU basketball: Fredette guides Cougs to win over CSU

FORT COLLINS — As good and as deep as the No. 16/14 BYU Cougars are, Jimmer Fredette still has a need every now and then to right the wavering ship.

In BYU's 92-70 win Wednesday night over Colorado State, Fredette kept the Cougars on top through a turnover- and foul-plagued first half, and then put them comfortably ahead in the second half with several bombs that had the Moby Arena crowd oohing and awing.

"Jimmer was really good tonight," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "The way Colorado State was guarding him it took a while for him to figure out who was open and what was the best way for him to attack coming out of those ball screens. But he did a good job, especially in the first half, of keeping us in the game when we were having a hard time scoring."

Fredette finished with a game-high 36 points — scoring 17 of BYU's 38 first-half points and then adding 19 more after the break. He hit 12-of-22 shots, made 6 of 10 from long range and also sank 6-of-7 free throws. The rest of his line included five rebounds, six assists and six turnovers.

"I felt like I needed to score a little bit more, and my shot was pretty good and pretty on," Fredette said.

Early on, however, the Cougars struggled to get control of the game's tempo and take care of the ball. In the first eight minutes alone they turned it over six times, and finished the half with 10 turnovers. Fredette had four of those.

"We didn't pass well and we didn't catch well. But a lot of it had to do with Colorado State. They were aggressive and they were pressuring us," Rose said.

Still, the Cougars never trailed after a 3-pointer, a scoop by Fredette and a layup by Jackson Emery gave BYU an early 9-3 lead. And the Cougars also survived a four-minute scoring drought after taking a 12-5 lead on an Emery three.

The Rams couldn't gain ground, however, because they couldn't make shots. In fact, through the game's first 13 minutes Colorado State had only two field goals. They finished the first half with only seven baskets.

What wasn't lacking, however, were whistles. The Cougars were called for 14 fouls in the first half, sending the Rams to the line 21 times.

"It was hard for us to get into a rhythm," Emery said. "But a lot of that was our fault because of bad (defensive) position, and then we'd commit a foul and bail them out."

Rams forward Travis Franklin shot 14 free throws in the opening 20 minutes.

"I just wanted to be aggressive," Franklin said. "Coach told me to keep putting pressure on the rim."

After a Fredette trey gave BYU a 34-19 lead, the Rams went on a 9-2 run to trim the margin to eight. But Fredette buried a pull-up jumper from the left wing as time expired to give the Cougars a 38-28 lead at the break.