Bad news for those hoping the tempo-free revolution is near. Old habits die hard. Especially among college hoops writers and teams.
BYU beat Air Force 76-66 on Saturday, but the Falcons found solace in their performance against Cougars star Jimmer Fredette, who finished with 22 points on 6 of 14 shooting. That’s three less than his season average.
“As a team we wanted to limit what he was getting,” guard Todd Fletcher told the Colorado Springs Gazette. “I think we did well. I think we executed our gameplan on him.”
Except … that hardly counts as a sub-par performance. “Limiting” Fredette to 22 isn’t rare, or even that good. He’s scored just 13 points twice and 16 twice this season. (All four games were BYU wins.) And his shooting was fine. His eFG% was 53.6 and he scored 1.27 PPWS.
Even in a non-tempo-free world, making 43 percent of your field goals and finishing with 22 points counts as a good day.
If Air Force wants moral victories, that wasn’t it.
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