By: Jay Yeomans

Published: December 26, 2019

Jimmer Fredette returned to the lineup and delivered another strong performance as Panathinaikos fell to top-ranked Real Madrid on Thursday, 87-75.

The former BYU standout finished with 18 points on the 5-for-12 shooting from the field, including 4-for-9 from 3-point range and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. He added a season-high nine rebounds (two on the offensive end), an assist and a steal in 35:16 on the floor.

Fredette got his offense going early on when he created separation from a defender with a behind-the-back dribble before knocking down his first three of the night. He followed that up with his second triple of the first quarter as he used a well-placed screen before burying a three from the top of the arc. After knocking down four foul shots to reach double figures, he once again found the range from deep as he came off a couple of baseline screens before connecting on another three.

The Eurohoops TV YouTube Channel shared the highlights of all of Fredette’s baskets.

Nick Calathes paced the Greens in scoring with 19 points on 7-for-20 shooting from the field and 4-for-5 from the foul line, to go along with seven assists and five rebounds.

Ioannis Papapetrou also had a solid night with 11 points while Georgios Papagiannis added 10 points and four rebounds.

For Real Madrid, Anthony Randolph carried the scoring load with 22 points on the strength of 5-for-11 shooting from deep. Walter Tavares delivered a big night as well, finishing with 14 points and 14 rebounds.

With the loss, Panathinaikos now sits at 9-7 in EuroLeague and in sixth place in the standings.

In 15 games, Fredette is averaging 14.3 points on 52.2 percent shooting from inside the arc, 41.4 percent from distance and 95 percent from the charity stripe. He also contributes 2.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 23:08.

Thoughts on the game

It was a rough night on the backboards for Panathinaikos who got rebounded by nine, including 18-11 on the offensive end. The Greens also struggled to find the range from 3-point land, connecting on just 9 of 31.

Inside the numbers

Fredette scored in double figures for the 12th time in 15 chances while tying his EuroLeague career-high with four made threes. It is also the fourth time in the last six games that he has scored at least 18 points.

As for Fredette’s rebounding performance, it was easily his season-high on both ends of the floor and helped to offset the lack of court time for frontcourt players, Jacob Wiley and Ben Bentil.

Along with the season-high in rebounds, it was also a season-best in minutes for Fredette who hit the 30-minute mark on the floor for the first time.

Up next

Fredette and the Greens head back into Greek League play on Sunday to face off with Panionios who is led by former Louisville standout Samardo Samuels who is averaging 18.4 points on 6.7 rebounds.