Wildcats give Fredette, BYU no elbow room

OKLAHOMA CITY -- At almost every turn, Brigham Young star Jimmer Fredette ran into a wall of defenders. It was rare when he got a clear view of the basket.

On the other end of the floor, Jacob Pullen was getting open all day, and he burned the Cougars by putting on an extraordinary shooting display.

Pullen sank seven 3-pointers and scored 34 points to lift second-seeded Kansas State to an 84-72 victory over BYU on Saturday in an NCAA Tournament second-round game at the Ford Center.

"It's a childhood dream. I watched every NCAA Tournament since I was a kid," Pullen said. "It's an amazing feeling."

The Wildcats (28-7) advanced to the West Region semifinals at Salt Lake City.

The seventh-seeded Cougars (30-6) are headed in the same direction, but their season is over, the last of four Mountain West Conference teams ousted.

"We had a great season. We were able to get past the first round finally, and we ran into a really good team," Fredette said.

"They are an aggressive team defensively. They started double-teaming me even in the backcourt. They had a good game plan and executed it pretty well."

Fredette scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half. He was harassed for all of his 36 minutes on the floor and shot 5-for-13, including 1-for-4 from 3-point range. As usual, he was effective at the free-throw line, where he shot 10-for-11.

Kansas State sent a swarm at Fredette, and Pullen was the primary defender.

"I just wanted to make him work for everything," Pullen said. "He's a good player, though. He still found ways to score the ball. I give him a lot of credit because he's an amazing scorer."

After the Cougars cut their deficit to seven on two Fredette free throws, Pullen answered with a deep 3-pointer to put the Wildcats on top 71-61 with 3:24 left.

Pullen made all 11 of his free throws, six in the final 2:05.

After No. 1-ranked Kansas was upset by Northern Iowa in the day's first game, Pullen said Kansas State's players took notice. "We understood how good BYU could be, and we didn't want to overlook them," he said.

Cougars coach Dave Rose said the Wildcats' depth, strength and defensive pressure wore down his team.

"It wasn't pressure that we hadn't seen before. We've seen it through other teams such as UNLV," said BYU guard Jackson Emery, who had 13 points. "It took us awhile to respond to their pressure and to counter that, and by the time we did, we were already in a hole."

The Cougars were finding wide-open shooters early in the game, and they capitalized by taking a 10-0 lead on Emery's second 3-pointer. After a 3 by Jonathan Tavernari, the margin was 23-13.

"It's like somebody telling you, 'I'm going to beat you up,' and then they walk out there and punch us. They hit us and we were down 10-0," said Pullen, who made 7 of 12 3-point attempts.

Kansas State's guards began to penetrate and shoot over BYU's zone to turn the tide. The Wildcats pulled ahead 28-27 on a Pullen 3-pointer, and he made two more to help send Kansas State to the half with a 41-31 lead.

Tavernari, from Bishop Gorman High School, had seven points on 3-for-10 shooting. Palo Verde product Michael Loyd Jr., a key in BYU's first-round victory over Florida, had two points.

Kansas State coach Frank Martin, a former high school coach in Miami, is known for his fierce glare. But he was in a relaxed mood after the game.

"I just got a text message, one of 400 that have been coming through my phone, but it's from one of my dear friends," Martin said. "His text said, 'Never seen so many people at Hooters in Miami chanting your name.' "