The BYU Cougars saw their NCAA tournament stay come to an abrupt end with an 84-72 loss to the Kansas State Wildcats.
Kansas State was led by guard Jacob Pullen, who knocked down eight three-pointers to lead the Wildcats.
The team did an excellent job hounding and frustrating Jim Fredette, who had lit it up in the first round.
By taking him out of the game, the Wildcats essentially took away the only player on the court who could bounce them out of the tournament.
Kansas State now moves on to face an Xavier team that has athletic guards who will be tough to stop.
Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 9:04 am by steve
By Bud L. Ellis
One 3-pointer landed in the hoop, pushing the lead from four to seven. Another one would fall some 90 seconds later.
Finally, Jimmer Fredette and his Brigham Young Cougars teammates could exhale. Their season would continue into the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 17 years.
It took double overtime and 37 points from Fredette, but the Cougars fought off Florida 99-92 Thursday in Oklahoma City. It was far from easy, as the Gators fought back from a 59-46 deficit with a little more than nine minutes to go to draw even.
The Gators had chances to win the game at the end of regulation and the first overtime, but missed both shots.
Fredette made sure the second extra frame didn’t come down to a last-second shot. With BYU up four, Fredette hit a 3-pointer with 2:42 left, pushing the lead to 90-83. Another 3-pointer with about a minute left sealed it for the Cougars.
Michael Loyd Jr. added 26 points for BYU.
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Monday, March 22, 2010 at 9:16 pm by bud
Tags: Brigham Young Cougars, Florida, Jimmer Fredette, Michael Loyd Jr., NCAA Tournament
While their seeding was a disappointing, there’s nothing disappointing about the prospect of playing virtual home games in the NCAA Tournament for the BYU Cougars.
That’s exactly the situation they hope to find themselves in after drawing a No. 7 seed and a game against the Florida Gators in the first round. Should the Cougars advance and also beat likely second round opponent Kansas State, they would get to play their Sweet 16 (and potential Elite game in Salt Lake City.
First thing’s first, though: Neither of those aforementioned games is a cakewalk, by any stretch of the imagination. The Gators earned an at-large bid from the SEC, their first trip back to the Big Dance since their back-to-back national titles just a few years ago. You can bet they plan on making the most of it. Still, BYU is favored after a dazzling regular season and is expected to advance after losing its first round game in each of the past three years as a No. 8 seed.
Beating the Wildcats from Manhattan is an entirely different story, though. Kansas State earned its No. 2 seed, running off an impressive regular season of its own and showing that aside from rival Kanas, it can beat just about anyone. And as good as BYU’s Jimmer Fredette is (and he’s really, really good), the Wildcats will take the court with the better backcourt. Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen have been terrific all season, and either or both could go off against the Cougars.
It speaks volumes that BYU’s only losses this season came to fellow NCAA Tournament teams (UNLV, New Mexico, and Utah State). The selection committee was probably a little too harsh in punishing the Cougars for losing in the MWC semifinals after such a good regular season, but there’s no point in crying over spilled milk, especially not when they could be staring two virtual home games in the face.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at 8:04 am by Raj Sethi
