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BYU Travels to Frenso State to take on Former Coach

By Jeremy Mauss

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BYU Cougars (7-1)
@ Fresno St. Bulldogs (4-4)

Saturday, Dec 12, 2009, 7:00 PM PST
Save Mart Center

TV: ESPN 360

Complete Coverage >


The intrigue in this game is that former BYU head coach Steve Cleveland is now at Fresno State, but this year Fresno is struggling a bit with their 4-4 with their best win coming over San Diego.  The Bulldogs are currently on a two game winning streak with that San Diego win plus a win over another WCC team Pepperdine. 

BYU on the other hand has only the single blemish came by hands of Utah State, but do not expect a loss to Fresno today.  Fresno is an average dcoring team that only puts out 68 per game, but Fresno has only two big time scorers in Sylvester Seay and Paul George who score just over 17 per game.  After that they have one player who scors in doudble digits.

A big reason for the woes of Fresno is that they average 15.1 turnovers per game, and compare that to BYU who averages 10.1.  That difference in five can give BYU a chance for at least five more shots and up to 15 points from the sloppy play of Fresno State.

Defensively Fresno only allows 64 per game, but that is skewed by a 37 point defensive effort against San Diego.  Even with that game taken out Fresno is still solid defensively and that number only increases to 68 per game.

Fresno will need to stop at least Jimmer Freddette to have a chance to win this game.  BYU has other scorers but if they can force Jimmer to take a bunch of shots with little points is the only chance for Fresno to win.

Realistically BYU should run Freno out of gym and improve to 8-1.

BYU Stats

FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
Jimmer Fredette 8 31.3 5.3 12.6 41.6 1.5 3.8 40.0 6.0 6.4 94.1 0.9 2.5 3.4 5.6 2.1 1.8 0.3 0.9 18.0
Jackson Emery 8 25.1 4.1 7.5 55.0 3.1 5.9 53.2 1.8 2.3 77.8 0.6 3.6 4.3 1.8 1.4 2.5 0.1 3.3 13.1
Jonathan Tavernari 8 25.8 4.0 11.8 34.0 1.6 5.4 30.2 1.0 1.3 80.0 0.6 4.5 5.1 1.3 0.9 1.3 0.3 1.9 10.6
Tyler Haws 8 25.4 3.1 6.9 45.5 0.1 1.6 7.7 2.6 3.1 84.0 1.5 2.6 4.1 1.6 0.9 0.8 0.3 1.9 9.0
Noah Hartsock 8 21.3 2.5 3.9 64.5 0.1 0.1 100.0 0.8 0.8 100.0 1.3 3.1 4.4 0.6 0.4 0.8 1.0 1.5 5.9
Chris Miles 8 14.4 2.4 4.0 59.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.1 1.4 81.8 1.1 2.1 3.3 0.5 0.4 0.1 0.4 2.3 5.9
Charles Abouo 8 13.1 1.6 3.8 43.3 0.4 0.9 42.9 1.9 2.4 78.9 1.3 1.5 2.8 0.8 1.1 0.9 0.5 1.6 5.5
Michael Loyd, Jr. 8 12.9 1.6 2.5 65.0 0.9 1.5 58.3 0.3 0.5 50.0 0.0 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.4 0.0 0.8 4.4
Brandon Davies 8 12.8 1.6 2.4 68.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.1 1.5 75.0 1.1 2.1 3.3 0.4 1.4 0.3 0.5 2.3 4.4
Lamont Morgan, Jr. 8 9.6 0.9 1.3 70.0 0.1 0.1 100.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.4 0.5 2.0 0.5 0.4 0.0 0.3 1.9
James Anderson 7 4.3 0.4 1.0 42.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.3 50.0 0.7 0.6 1.3 0.0 0.1 0.3 0.0 1.1 1.0
Logan Magnusson 7 3.7 0.3 0.9 33.3 0.1 0.3 50.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.4 1.3 1.7 0.4 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.7
Brock Zylstra 6 2.0 0.3 0.7 50.0 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.7

Fresno State Stats

FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
Paul George 8 33.4 5.5 12.3 44.9 2.1 5.3 40.5 4.6 5.1 90.2 2.1 5.9 8.0 2.9 3.5 2.4 0.6 3.5 17.8
Sylvester Seay 8 29.3 6.1 12.1 50.5 0.9 3.9 22.6 4.0 6.4 62.7 2.1 3.9 6.0 1.5 2.0 1.4 0.9 2.6 17.1
Greg Smith 8 26.8 4.6 6.9 67.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 4.3 47.1 2.4 4.5 6.9 1.1 1.8 0.5 1.3 2.8 11.3
Mychal Ladd 8 28.6 2.4 7.4 32.2 1.5 4.0 37.5 0.4 0.4 100.0 1.1 1.8 2.9 1.0 1.5 1.0 0.0 1.4 6.6
Steven Shepp 8 27.8 1.9 3.9 48.4 1.5 2.9 52.2 1.3 1.8 71.4 0.1 2.0 2.1 5.1 2.8 1.0 0.4 1.5 6.5
Nedeljko Golubovic 8 16.9 1.3 4.0 31.3 0.5 1.9 26.7 0.5 1.3 40.0 0.6 1.5 2.1 0.6 0.6 0.1 0.1 1.8 3.5
Brandon Webster 2 8.5 1.0 2.0 50.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.5 2.0 75.0 0.5 1.5 2.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 1.5 2.5 3.5
Brandon Sperling 8 26.4 0.8 3.1 24.0 0.1 1.0 12.5 1.5 2.9 52.2 0.4 3.3 3.6 2.0 2.1 0.6 0.1 2.0 3.1
Jerry Brown Jr. 6 7.3 0.7 0.8 80.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 1.3 25.0 0.3 0.5 0.8 0.2 0.3 0.0 0.2 1.3 1.7
Garrett Johnson 4 5.0 0.0 1.3 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 50.0 0.5 0.0 0.5 0.3 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.8 0.5
Taylor Kelly 1 7.0 0.0 3.0 0.0 0.0 3.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0


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