BYU basketball: Fredette nets career-high 28 points

PROVO — The Legend of Jimmer Fredette grew a little larger Saturday, and not only at the Marriott Center.

Around the Mountain West Conference, the secret is out — Fredette has emerged as one of the best guards in the league.

BYU's 6-foot-2, 195-pound sophomore poured in a career-high 28 points — knocking down 11 of 13 shots from the field — in the Cougars' 84-60 rout of Wyoming. He scored 19 of those points in the first half, lifting the Cougars to a big first-half lead.

And the 'Pokes never recovered.

Certainly, Fredette made a believer out of Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer, a former BYU assistant who has seen plenty of talented Cougar guards over the years.

"He's big-time. He's a big-time player," Schroyer said. "He's really, really good. I knew he was good watching him on film, but when you get a close-up view of him, wow, he's really good. It's because he's big, he's strong, he can shoot the 3 and he's really good off the dribble — better than you think. He's good. He's one in a long line of BYU guards."

Fredette may be catching teams by surprise, but now that every MWC squad but one has faced him once this season, that's not going to happen much longer.

"Jimmer is really fast, but he also has two or three different gears that he plays in, and I think that's what has made him so effective so far," said BYU coach Dave Rose. "Jimmer was really good at the start of the game and managed that consistent effort the duration of the game. He was making some big shots at the end of the game."

Fredette put on an impressive shooting display against Wyoming, unleashing a repertoire of shots, from the fundamentally sound to the acrobatic. He knocked down a 3-pointer seconds into the game and drained another about one minute later.

"I made my first shot, then I made my second one. From then on, the basket looked big," Fredette said. "I was just making my shots, getting to the basket, and my teammates were hitting me when I was open on the 3-point line. Once you make a couple and you get rolling, that's something most players on this team have happen to them."

Later in the first half, Fredette scored eight consecutive points for BYU, including a layup off a steal and a dunk off a fast-break opportunity.

"He got us off to a great start. It didn't seem like he missed very much," said Cougar forward Lee Cummard, who scored 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting."He was in rhythm all night long. I think it helped him defensively, too. He was energized and just played great tonight."