‘We’ve got to be the aggressor’: How BYU is approaching Thursday’s Big Dance opener vs. VCU

DENVER — Richie Saunders, Trevin Knell, Dallin Hall and Fouss Traore lived it last year in Omaha, Nebraska, and backup guard Dawson Baker witnessed it.

The BYU Cougars’ 71-67 loss to the Duquesne Dukes in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament was a devastating blow to then-coach Mark Pope’s program, which hadn’t won a game in the Big Dance since 2012.

So the natural questions for sixth-seeded BYU (24-9) at Denver’s Ball Arena as it went through interviews and a 50-minute light practice at the home of the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday were about what happened a year ago.

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Can the Cougars avoid seeing history repeat itself — albeit in a place much closer to their home in Provo — on Thursday when they take on 11th-seeded VCU in another 6-11 seed first-round matchup? Like Duquesne was in 2024, VCU is coming off a win in the Atlantic 10 tournament championship game.

“The guys that played in that game have expressed the importance of being urgent, being the first to kind of deliver the hit, but don’t let the game get too big,” said Baker, who was on the bench last year but didn’t play due to a foot injury. “It is a big stage, and your mind can drift about that, but it is important to just stay focused on the gameplan and the things that we do well.”

Wednesday didn’t start well for the Cougars, who were about seven minutes late to their scheduled time on the dais for the traditional day-before news conference, but their shootaround was filled with laughter, some shooting competitions and the usual team photo at half-court in front of the March Madness logo.

Are they ready for the most important game of the season, and the young Kevin Young era?

“I would say (the readiness level) is high,” Young said, noting that he has been “picking the brains” of the aforementioned players who suffered the excruciating loss last year in Omaha. “I think that’s what is great about the Big 12. You go through a lot of battles throughout the course of the regular season even the postseason. So I think our guys are ready. We have a mature group and we are definitely relying on their experience, as well.”

Much has been made of how BYU hasn’t tasted victory in the Big Dance since the 2012 win over Iona in a First Four game in Dayton, and how the Cougars are just 6-7 playing as a higher seed in the tournament since full-field seeding was instigated in 1979.

Along with being asked about how his great-grandfather helped invent Tater Tots as a founder of the potato-based frozen foods company Ore-Ida, Saunders was asked how a lot of people picking VCU to spring the upset for the A-10 for the second straight year is going over in the BYU locker room.

“It has no effect on us,” Saunders said. “We’re here to play basketball, and play (our style) of basketball.”

As for last year’s opening-round loss serving as prime motivation for this year’s tourney appearance — BYU’s 32nd — Saunders had significantly more to say.

“It was our first time with this opportunity, and we got freaking smacked,” he said. “We took a few key things right there. (One) is we’ve got to come out and be the aggressor.

“We have been around the block now, it feels like, as a team, and a lot of guys have been here in this spot before,” he continued. “Just with having all the confidence in the world and all the focus of just getting the job done and being the tougher team, that’s my takeaway.”

Knell then said he would “double down” on Saunders’ sentiments and repeated what has become BYU’s belief that it is more “battle-tested” than VCU, due to its rigorous Big 12 schedule.

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“We have a lot of veteran dudes out here,” Knell said. “It is going to be awesome to go out there and play against with our band of brothers and play our brand of basketball. I think that’s something that we’ve really got to double down on going into this game.”

Rutgers transfer Mawot Mag, who was involved in two NCAA Tournament appearances at Rutgers (he was injured during one of them), said the Cougars welcome the challenge of playing a good team right off the bat.

“I would rather play (VCU) early rather than late,” Mag said.

The Rams (28-6) also enter the tournament as a confident bunch, with VCU’s Jack Clark saying, “Hey, we are an 11 seed playing a six seed, but for us it is like an evenly matched game. Going in there with a lot of confidence will not only help us for this game, but in the long run as well.”

VCU has won 18 of its last 20 games; BYU was also red-hot, winning nine straight before losing 74-54 to Houston last Friday. Did that lopsided loss, albeit to one of the best teams in the country, nick BYU’s confidence?

“I hope not,” Saunders said. “It shouldn’t have. Not for me, personally. I am sure that’s how it was for the other guys. You take your losses and you learn and you get back up. That’s what we’ve done all season.”

As for that business with the Tater Tots, Saunders is leaning into notoriety.

“It’s hilarious. I don’t know where that came out of. It came out of nowhere. My great grandpa founded Ore-Ida, which founded the Tater Tot,” he said. “I don’t know (who brought it up first), but we’ve had a lot of laughs just in our house, and had a lot of Tater Tots, too.”

What BYU hasn’t had is a lot of NCAA Tournament wins. It holds the dubious distinction of most NCAA appearances (32, now) without having made it to the Final Four. Cougar fans are hungry, Baker acknowledged.

“Honestly, we are just hungry for ourselves,” he said. “We feel like we deserve this. We have worked really hard all year. We have been through a lot of big games, and low moments and high moments, and we owe it to ourselves to advance in this tournament.

“So more than anything, we just want to do it for each other on the court, and for this coaching staff in their first year,” Baker continued. “I think that is the biggest motivation and drive for us.”

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