Fredette, Cougars overpower USU
Senior guard All-American Jimmer Fredette scored 26 points to lead the No. 23 Brigham Young Cougars (2-0) over the Utah State Aggies (1-1) Wednesday night in the Marriott Center, 78-72. The Aggies kept things close the entire game, but miserable free-throw shooting and careless turnovers cost USU the game.
“It was a good game,” Aggie head coach Stew Morrill. “We came in and gave ourselves a chance. We played really hard. We make a few free-throws and it might have been a different story. We struggled at the line.”
Struggling at the free-throw line may be an understatement. The Aggies shot 15-of-26 from the charity stripe for a dismal 57.7 percent.
“They are free points if you can make them,” senior forward Tai Wesley said. “I need to get in the gym and practice free-throws.”
Wesley, who scored 19 points in 25 minutes of playing time, shot 1-of-6 from the foul line and found himself in foul trouble most of the night.
“Tai Wesley has got to stay on the floor,” Morrill said. “We can’t have him out there for 25 minutes. That’s not going to work for us. He got a couple of cheap ones that we’ve got to get away from. Those are killing us in the first half.”
Wesley’s last foul came with two minutes left in the game and the Cougars up by three. Wesley came down with a defensive rebound and tried to protect the ball, but instead the officials whistled him for an intentional foul, giving the Cougars two foul shots and possesion.
“There’s a new rule about swinging your elbows,” Morrill said. “That’s what was called.”
Wesley said, “They said I have to keep my elbows in. I thought I tucked them.”
Junior forward Morgan Grim is the only Aggie on the roster to have played inside the Marriott Center (during his year at the U), but the Aggies were able to get strong performances against a solid team inside a tough environment. Senior guard Brian Green tallied 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor and 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point range.
“He was great,” Morrill said of Green. “He was fired up like he always is. He came in firing. You give him just a little daylight and he’ll knock it down.”
Senior guard Pooh Williams, who was playing with a strained groin, scored 10 points in 26 minutes, and junior forward Brady Jardine added a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
“I knew our guys would compete,” Morrill said. “That’s what we expect. We’ve had a pretty solid program for a while and that should be what we do. It shouldn’t be something that’s rare. It should be every night out.”
USU hit 48 percent from the field and a blistering 63 percent from the 3-point line. The Aggies also held the Cougars to 38.7 percent shooting from the field and 26.9 shooting from the 3-point line. Junior forwards Noah Hartsock and Charles Abouo score 15 and 13 points respectively.
“I thought we did a good job defensively when you look at the stats,” Morrill said. “BYU has a really nice basketball team. It seemed like a mid-season type game to me than a second game. Both teams did a lot of good things.”
Despite the Aggies’ strong performance, the loss still hurts.
“It’s a tough one to lose,” Morrill said. “In-state games are always tough to lose. When you come on the road and give yourself a chance, it’s really tough to lose.”
Wesley said, “It hurts. Any game we lose like this, it hurts. That’s a game we could have won so it hurts a little more.”
The Aggies will get the chance to get the bad taste out of their mouths tomorrow when they travel to Cedar City to face the Southern Utah University Thunderbirds (1-1). The Thunderbirds started their season losing at home to the NAIA Cal Baptist Lancers, 79-69. The Thunderbirds defeated the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners on the road on Wednesday, 66-58.
Tip-off against the Thunderbirds is slated for Saturday at 7:05.
–ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu