PROVO, UTAH — Jimmer Fredette made his case for National Player of the Year honors against San Diego State when the guard scored 43 points in a 71-58 victory against the Aztecs last night.
The loss snapped SDSU’s 20-game winning streak and dashed hopes for an undefeated season.
“That’s a really, really good team that we played tonight with as good a player as I’ve ever gone in front of,” head coach Steve Fisher said of Fredette. “He was sensational.”
Kawhi Leonard, who was strapped to an IV before the game and wasn’t feeling well with flu-like symptoms, scored 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Malcolm Thomas was the only other Aztec in double figures with 10 points, and was the second leading rebounder with six.
But it wasn’t enough on a night when, despite playing at its desired tempo, SDSU couldn’t get its shots to fall — hitting just 35.5 percent from the field.
“We missed some easy layups,” point guard D.J. Gay said.
The Aztecs didn’t seem to get much help from the referees, either. There was a 10-minute stretch in the second half when some calls could have gone SDSU’s way, but never did.
“Maybe the next time we’ll get some of those 50-50 calls,” Fisher said. “But you can’t blame that on the outcome of a game.”
But you can blame Fredette for the outcome.
SDSU led the Cougars at halftime 31-30 following a 3-pointer by Leonard. But the second half would start the way it would finish: with Fredette scoring.
The BYU guard went on a tear in the second half, leading his team to an 8-2 run that gave the Cougars a 52-46 advantage with about 11 minutes to play. BYU and a hostile crowd of 22,000 fans didn’t let the Aztecs back in it. The crowd would eventually storm the court.
Missed shots and no-calls seemed to fluster SDSU, particularly Thomas.
“I got frustrated, but I can’t do that when we play good teams like this,” Thomas said. “I can’t let that happen any more. It won’t happen anymore.”
“I thought we got a little bit worrying about bumps and stuff and not about finishing plays, ” Fisher added. “That might’ve affected us a little bit.”
The Aztecs fall to second place in the Mountain West Conference with the loss.
“The nice thing is we got a game on Saturday and we have another opportunity in our building (against BYU) and maybe a third opportunity in the tournament,” Fisher said.
SDSU will host the Cougars on Feb. 26.
The Aztecs will look to rebound against Wyoming at home this Saturday.
