Lobos forced to watch another episode of The Jimmer Show

LAS VEGAS — It was a Jiimmer jamboree.

For four straight contests, the UNM men’s basketball team walked away with wins against BYU. The Cougars redeemed themselves during Friday’s epic and memorable semifinals matchup at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The nation’s leading scorer, Jimmer Fredette, scored a career-high 52 points that propelled BYU over UNM 87-76 and into the championship game today.

Fredette broke his own MWC record of 45 points, which he set exactly one year earlier against TCU in the first round of the 2010 MWC tournament.

Fredette said he didn’t realize he was approaching the 50-point mark.

“You can kind of the see the score, because it’s right next to the scoreboard,” Fredette said. “They put it up there for you. I don’t know if it’s always correct or not, but you can kind of tell where you’re at.”

Against the Lobos in the first half, Fredette posted 33 points. He continues to add to his monumental college career.
Fredette’s 52 points were a MWC all-time, single-game scoring record, and he surpassed his original career-high of 49, which he set Dec. 28, 2009, against Arizona.

He now holds three of the top four spots in MWC scoring history. Had Fredette scored two more points, he would have tied Jodie Meeks’ Division I record. Meeks, who played for Kentucky, scored 54 against Tennessee on Jan. 13, 2009.

UNM head coach Steve Alford, who made a career at Indiana as a prolific scorer and always-accurate free throw shooter, finished his collegiate career at IU as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,438 points. His career free-throw percentage is .897 (535-of-596).

And yet Alford was in awe and said Fredette is simply special. He said Fredette had a night that was meant for March.

“At the start of the game, when we give BYU three-offensive rebounds and a scorer like that gets a layup to get in rhythm,” Alford said. “He just kind of went from that layup and kept just moving out a little bit further on each shot from there.”