Prime Time Players

You always want your star players to rise to the occasion in big games. We had a couple examples of that tonight. First, the in San Diego State - BYU game tonight, arguably the most anticipated regular season basketball game in Mountain West Conference history. San Diego State entered the game undefeated at 20-0 and ranked 4th in the country while BYU joined them in the top 10 at #9 this week and came in with just one loss suffered against UCLA back in December. The one thing BYU has that San Diego State doesn't? Senior Guard Jimmer Fredette, the nation's leading scorer at 26.7 per game. And boy did he ever rise to the occasion tonight. Playing in front of the home crowd in Provo, Utah, Fredette went out scored 43 points on 14 of 24 shooting from the floor, drilled 5 of 8 3 pointers and 10 of 11 free throws. This was the 3rd time in the last 4 games Fredette has gone over 40 points as he dropped 47 at Utah and 42 against Colorado State earlier this month. Despite his play, he is only ranked 29th on Chris Ford's Top 100 2011 Draft Prospects list. If he keeps scoring at this right, you have to figure he'll move up though, right? Anyhow, the loss drops San Diego State from the ranks of the undefeated leaving Ohio State as the lone unbeaten team. It also leaves BYU in sole possession of first place in the Mountain West. These two teams will meet again on February 26th in San Diego. Mark it on your calendars!

For our second example, we go to the NBA where the Oklahoma City Thunder took on the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center in Minneapolis. Now this doesn't qualify as a "big game" in the sense that the BYU - San Diego State game does. Entering the game with a record of 10-34, the Timberwolves don't really get to have big games. This ended up being an overtime game though and in tight games as in high pressure games, you want your stars to rise to the occasion. This game featured two such performances, one for each team. For the Wolves, it was Kevin Love, a favorite of the Sports and Such Blog. Love gave the Thunder all they could handle as he put up 31 points and 21 rebounds, his 3rd 30 point, 20 rebound game of the season. Love was 13 of 23 for the floor, hit all 3 of his 3s and pulled down 8 offensive rebounds to lead the way for the struggling Wolves who also got a big night from Michael Beasley (30 points 9 rebounds 7 assists). As good as Kevin Love was though, Kevin Durant was better. Durant scored 47 points and had 18 rebounds, both career highs. and the eventual game winner with under 10 seconds to go in overtime. The only negative for him was that he missed a free throw snapping a streak of 45 in a row. As a result, the Thunder pulled this one out in overtime 118-117 although Minnesota had their chances. Check out the highlights below.


Oklahoma City - Minnesota Highlights