Florida: Ready, set . . . guard Fredette
NEW ORLEANS — Until you’ve seen him up close and personal, it’s easy to underestimate BYU gunner Jimmer Fredette. Florida’s Kenny Boynton learned that lesson last year in a first-round NCAA Tournament loss to the Cougars.
Boynton held Fredette to 23 points in 40 minutes, but Fredette turned it up with 14 more points in two overtime periods.
“You see him on TV, and you’re like, ‘Why is he scoring so much? I’m going to be the guy who stops him,’ ” he said. “Then, you get in the game, and the same thing happens to you. You’ve got to guard him in person .”
Recalling last year’s loss, he added, “You’ve got to play the full game. He’s not going to stop. He attacks the rim, he shoots deep shots, and he has a great midrange shot. On the offensive end, he has no weakness. I think the best thing to do with him is try to make him take tough twos and tire him out.”
The rematch of last year’s game takes place in the semifinals of the Southeast Regional tonight at New Orleans Arena. Boynton has been nursing a right ankle sprain, but after sitting out practice on Tuesday, he practiced fully yesterday and said he felt no pain.
In the two games BYU (32-4) played at the Denver subregional, Fredette had 32 points against Wofford and 34 against Gonzaga to raise his season scoring average to 28.8 points. As a team, BYU is averaging 81.6 points, but Florida (28-7) is holding opponents to an average of 62.7 points.
The key, Gators coach Billy Donovan said, is not to lose track of BYU’s other shooters, such as Jackson Emery, Noah Hartsock and Charles Abouo. “Eighty points a game would lead the SEC in scoring, and it’s because of the other guys around ,” Donovan said. “The part that nobody talks about is he’s a terrific passer.”
Boynton hopes to cover Fredette one-on-one by pressuring him high to prevent the long-range threes he can make. It’s better if the Gators can force Fredette to take tough two-point shots and don’t double him too much so they can defend his teammates.
“In the media, all you hear is ‘Jimmer, Jimmer, Jimmer,’ said Florida guard Erving Walker, who played at Christ the King High School. “But they’ve got other good players, Hartsock, Emery, they’ve got a good team. You can’t put all your eyes on Jimmer and let those other guys kill you. . . . We’re not amazed by him. He’s a great player, but we’ve got good players and we’re ready to play.”
BYU coach Dave Rose said that the first four minutes of each game over the past two months usually tell the tale of how teams plan to defend Fredette. “If they’re going to come off that ball screen and trap him to get the ball out of his hands, we’ll have four offensive players attacking three defensive players,” Rose said. “If they’re going to go underneath the screen, Jimmer is probably going to get a couple shots off.”
He can pull the trigger, all right.
