BYU basketball report card: Charles Abouo and Jackson Emery hold serve until Jimmer Fredette warms up

Utah at BYU boxscore

It was no 25-point cakewalk like the first time the two teams met this season, but BYU survived a subpar night to down Utah 72-59 on Saturday afternoon. Charles Abouo and Jackson Emery kept BYU in it until Jimmer Fredette caught fire in the second half.

STARTERS

Jimmer Fredette: What was looking like a C-minus game for the senior star changed in a two-and-a-half minute stretch in the second half when Fredette went on a personal 12-0 run to lift BYU to the win. He did it with an acrobatic 3-point play. He did it with a trademark trey. He did it by driving to the basket. Bottom line: He did it (23 points, five assists). Grade: B+

Jackson Emery: Mark it down: No one will ever break his BYU steals record. The senior added six more to his incredible total and showed great open-court game as the streak-man on the fast break. Emery had an Andrei Kirilenko-like line Saturday, adding 17 points, five assists and four rebounds to his line. Surprisingly, he did not make a 3-pointer. Grade: A-

Charles Abouo: He was pretty much the only Cougar who didn't play particularly well in the blowout win over Air Force, but Abouo more than atoned for that with a monster game against the Utes. He basically carried BYU for much of the first half. At one point, he had a Jimmer-like half of BYU's points (21 of 42). He finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Grade: A

Noah Hartsock: Quiet game for Hartsock, with a midrange jumper as his solitary field goal in the game. Blame it on match-ups? Maybe, but the Cougars need more than three rebounds and a blocked shot from a starting post player. Grade: C-

Logan Magnusson: Just two points in nine minutes of action for Magnusson, who got the surprise start. He did have a couple of rebounds and an assist, but was basically a non-factor. Grade: C.

C

RESERVES

Brandon Davies: It's always tough for Dacies when he faces the gargantuan centers at Utah, especially 7-3 David Foster. All things considered, the sophomore held his own. The scoring wasn't there (1-6 shooting, two points), but Davies contributed on defense (a block and three steals), on the glass (seven boards) and passing the ball (three assists). Grade: B

Kyle Collinsworth: The concussion cost him his starting job to Abouo and he may never get it back with as well as Abouo is playing. Plus Collinsworth looked a little woozy still with a two points, five rebounds performance. Grade: C-

Stephen Rogers: Did he play? Four minutes, one rebound, one turnover and two missed shots would imply that maybe there's an injury we don't know about. Or maybe it just wasn't his night. Grade: D

James Anderson, Brock Zylstra and Nick Martineau: All played against Air Force, but never saw the hardcourt against the Utes. Grade: Incomplete.

Andy Griffin is a southern Utah broadcaster and sports writer and has been involved in covering sports in Utah, including professional, college and high school sports, since 1989.