BYU coach Dave Rose knew what preseason All-American Jimmer Fredette could do. What he wasn't sure about were his big men.
But reserve Noah Hartsock scored a career-high 21 points and Chris Collinsworth grabbed seven rebounds in 17 minutes as the 24th-ranked Cougars rallied from a slow start to an 83-56 victory Friday night over Fresno State in the season opener.
Fredette led all scorers with 24 points.
''We knew Jimmer would do what Jimmer does,'' Fresno State coach Steve Cleveland said. ''Hartsock was the difference-maker. He played well, made shots. He was so solid.''
Fredette, an AP preseason All-America, got off to a slow start, but scored 11 of his 14 first-half points in a 4-minute span when BYU pushed its lead from five points to 21. The Cougars, who are coming off a 30-win season, led 45-26 at halftime and coasted in the second half.
''I was a little frustrated early,'' Rose said. ''They did a really good job of taking us out of where we wanted to be. It took us a little longer to get started.''
He said the key was rebounding, and getting Fresno State's 6-foot-10 center Greg Smith into foul trouble.
Fredette, who led BYU to the second round of the NCAA tournament last season, said having a sellout crowd of 22,700 - second-highest all-time - helped get him and his teammates going.
''We just didn't play as hard as we should have in the first four or five minutes,'' Fredette said. ''Finally the energy caught up to us and we were able to get out and run, get stops and play the way we play.''
Rose started sophomores Collinsworth and Brandon Davies but Hartsock's effort may have won him the starting job back.
The 6-9 Collinsworth, who just returned from a two-year mission in Australia, played 17 minutes and grabbed seven rebounds, while Davies had five rebounds in 14 minutes.
The 27-point win spoiled a homecoming for Cleveland, who won 90 games at the Marriott Center while coach of the Cougars from 1997-2005. With his Bulldogs committing 11 first-half turnovers and shooting 35.1 percent overall, he had no chance of getting win No. 91.
''We shot the ball very poorly,'' said Cleveland, noting nearly half of his players had never played in a Division I game before. ''I think when we go back and watch the film, you are going to see about 10 to 12 wide-open 3s, and we just couldn't make a basket. You have to make those shots, not just to beat BYU, but to beat anyone.
''I have special memories being here,'' Cleveland said. ''It wasn't always easy. But I'm pleased for Dave. They're going to be really good.''
Charles Abouo added 13 points and six rebounds for BYU.
Nedeljko Golubovic led Fresno State with 12 points, all in the first half. Smith, the Western Athletic Conference freshman of the year last season, was held to seven points. He played only six minutes in the first half and was on the bench when BYU took control of the game.
''I was real pleased with the second half,'' Rose said. ''There were a lot of guys who came in for us and got comfortable and were able to play at the pace that we wanted to play.''
Rose would get all 12 players into the game, experimenting with different frontcourt combinations.
Fresno State held a 7-6 lead five minutes into the game, and led again, 18-17, with 9:18 remaining in the first half.
But it was all BYU from there as Fredette got the Cougars rolling with one of his driving layups. He made 9 of 15 shots and added eight assists and three rebounds.
