Jimmer Fredette showed up at the Pepsi Center on Thursday night to extend his brilliant career yet another night in the NCAA Tournament. It just wasn’t, by Fredette standards, a Jimmer Show.
BYU’s national player-of-the year candidate launched 25 shots, including nine from behind the 3-point arc.
He was good only twice from 3-point range and needed 12 trips to the foul line for a “quiet” 32 points.
That was 20 points shy of his Mountain West Conference Tournament masterpiece a week ago.
Nevertheless, it was plenty for No. 3 seed BYU to win a 74-66 decision over No. 14-seed Wofford and move into Saturday’s third round against Gonzaga, which defeated St. John’s 86-71 in the nightcap.
Had anyone told Wofford coach Mike Young that BYU’s All-America guard would miss so many shots, he said, “I thought we would have won the game.”
Fredette acknowledged: “Yeah, sometimes the shots just weren’t falling. But I kept battling, playing my game, being aggressive.”
While Fredette’s 3’s fired from LoDo were mostly off the mark, he drove to the basket enough to kick the ball out for seven assists.
Knowledge of the afternoon session upsets by No. 13 seed Morehead State and No. 12 seed Richmond in the Southwest Regional gave both team reasons for pause.
“We talked about it before we walked out,” Young said. “There’s magic in this building.”
Fredette and his teammates wanted to avoid a third consecutive upset.
“That’s what we were weary of,” Fredette said. “We knew there were a lot of upsets all over the country.”
BYU’s Logan Magnusson, who contributed 10 points off the bench, said: “I think we used that as motivation. A lot of guys saw that and said, ‘Let’s not let that happen to us.’ “
Fredette didn’t win any Wofford friends when he teed up a 3-pointer with eight seconds left and the outcome secure.
Wofford stayed within striking range until late. BYU’s Charles Abouo hit big baskets down the stretch to complement Fredette.
The Pepsi Center was slow to fill up for the second session. The Mountain West co- champions were accustomed to playing in front of ear-splitting full houses. Without a familiar opponent, BYU looked lost at times early in the game.
Wofford had its own small, but vocal, cheering section. If the Terriers weren’t going to spring the upset, they were determined not to leave the Pepsi Center embarrassed. And they didn’t, thanks in big part to forward Noah Dahlman, who led his team with 22.
Natalie Meisler: 303 954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
