LAS VEGAS -- Jimmer Fredette's night wasn't perfect, even though he did score 45 points and Brigham Young broke the school's 60-year-old mark for wins in a season.
After all, the junior point guard missed one of his two dozen free throws.
"I'm still upset about that one, to be honest with you," Fredette said with a smirk after leading the 14th-ranked Cougars past TCU 95-85 in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament Thursday night.
"I'll think about it tonight and try to correct that. Hopefully, I'll make all of them next time."
The Cougars (29-4) will face the UNLV-Utah winner in the semifinals tonight at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Fredette, a junior from Glen Falls, N.Y., set tournament records with his 45 points and 23-of-24 performance from the line.
Utah's Lou Kelly held the tournament record with a 35-point performance against New Mexico in 2002, but it was Fredette's demolition of Ricky Morgan's old marks of 18 foul conversions in 19 attempts for UNLV against Wyoming in 2005 that was most impressive.
The Cougars needed every bit of Fredette's special night because TCU played much better than it had in losing at home to BYU by 30 points five nights earlier. The seventh-seeded Horned Frogs (13-19) led 40-39 at halftime but couldn't stop Fredette, who scored 30 of his points after the break.
"Our kids competed," said TCU coach Jim Christian. "Obviously, in the second half Jimmer took over the game. He's a great player. It's difficult because we tried everything we could do. You trap him, the other guys, they hit so many timely shots as a team. It's hard to take out one guy, especially when he can pass the ball and the other guys can play."
Fredette shrugged off his record-breaking performance and his spectacular second half as "just being aggressive."
"I got to the foul line a lot, which was good," he said. "I knew I could make it from there."
About the only place he couldn't score from was beyond the arc, where he went 2 for 10. However, one of his 3s that did fall came after his four straight swishes from the stripe and put the Cougars ahead 59-51.
Just when it looked like BYU was finally going to cruise, TCU reserve Greg Hill replied with a three-point play followed by a four-point play, forcing a timeout with the Cougars clinging to a 59-58 lead with 12:26 remaining.
This time, the Cougars did break away -- with Fredette leading the way, of course.
Double-teamed, Fredette dished out one of his six assists, finding an open Jackson Emery, who sank a 3-pointer that sparked a 12-2 run that gave BYU a 71-60 lead.
Ronnie Moss led TCU with 22 points.
* NO. 1 KANSAS 80, TEXAS TECH 68: At Kansas City, Mo., Cole Aldrich had 12 points and 18 rebounds, and No. 1 Kansas became the third team to reach 2,000 wins by pulling out a victory over scrappy Texas Tech in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament.
Kansas (30-2) slogged through a sloppy first half and had to withstand a Texas Tech rally in the second before pulling away to join Kentucky and North Carolina in the 2,000-win club. The Jayhawks will play Texas A&M in the tournament semifinals.
John Roberson had 14 points and eight assists for Texas Tech (17-15).
* NO. 22 GEORGETOWN 91, NO. 3 SYRACUSE 84: At New York, Chris Wright scored 27 points and the No. 22 Hoyas (22-9) sailed past third-ranked Syracuse in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.
Syracuse (28-4) is left to wonder whether it's done enough to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, but also has to worry about Arinze Onuaku.
* NO. 8 NEW MEXICO 75, AIR FORCE 69: At Las Vegas, Darrington Hobson scored 28 points to help the No. 8 Lobos set a school record for wins in a season during the Mountain West Conference quarterfinals.
Dairese Gary added 20 points for New Mexico (29-3), which has won 15 straight. The Lobos will play San Diego State in the tournament semifinals. The Aztecs edged Colorado State 72-71.
Tom Fow scored 17 points to lead the Falcons (10-21).
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