BYU and Arizona fans alike will never forget last year’s meeting between the Cougars and Wildcats in Tucson.
Amid a true slugfest, BYU held Arizona to just one made field goal in the final four minutes, then sank two free throws with three seconds remaining to stun the Wildcats 96-95 in memorable — and controversial — fashion.
But the player who hit those clutch free throws won’t be suiting up for the Cougars in Wednesday’s action at McKale Center, as Richie Saunders tore his ACL this past weekend against Colorado.
“I’ll forever be grateful for Richie. I think he’s everything that’s great about a college basketball player,” BYU coach Kevin Young said Tuesday during his weekly press briefing. “The amount of people, including opposing coaches within our league that reached out to me, you know, about Richie in the last couple days, I think says a lot about him.
“I think I do better in situations like this, (with a) back-against-the-wall type of mentality. I’ve kind of operated that way my whole life, and I’m as energized as I’ve ever been as a coach and I’m really taking this challenge head on.”
— BYU coach Kevin Young
“He’s gotten himself to the point he’s at because of sheer work and motor and effort, paid his dues and got a lot better. You know, it’s rare in this day and age for a guy to do what he did here at BYU. ... He’s a BYU legend and always will be.”
The loss of Saunders is obviously brutal, but especially given the timing. The Cougars have two top-10 matchups on the docket this week — first the aforementioned trip to Tucson for a rematch with No. 4 Arizona on Wednesday, then a Saturday meeting at home with No. 6 Iowa State, which just took down No. 2 Houston on Monday.
Saunders’ injury, BYU being a week removed from a four-game losing skid, and now having a grueling slate ahead to end the regular season has resulted in many fans and pundits lowering their previously-lofty expectations for the Cougars, no longer believing they’re capable of making a deep NCAA Tournament run in their current form.
Young, however, welcomes such a lack of outside faith.
“I think I do better in situations like this, (with a) back-against-the-wall type of mentality,” Young said. “I’ve kind of operated that way my whole life, and I’m as energized as I’ve ever been as a coach and I’m really taking this challenge head on.
“I know a lot of people are writing us off, and I’m kind of relishing in that, and so are our guys. When you’ve got a group of guys like we do who are good young men, I think that they’re going to rely on each other and band together, and I’m excited to see what this iteration of it looks like.”
If there was ever a good time to be catching a team like Arizona, it might be now. After a 23-0 start, the Wildcats have dropped two games in a row, with standout freshman forward Koa Peat suffering a lower-body injury this past weekend against Texas Tech that will sideline him against BYU.
Additionally, Arizona wing and 44% 3-point shooter Dwayne Aristode will miss Wednesday’s action as well with an illness, leaving the Wildcats with just six available rotation players.
While shorthanded, Arizona still has plenty of firepower elsewhere — don’t forget how guards Brayden Burries and Jaden Bradley torched BYU for 55 combined points in Provo back on Jan. 26 — and Young doesn’t foresee the Wildcats pivoting very far from what’s made them so successful thus far.
“One thing I respect about (Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd) is he’s going to do what he does, and you’re going to have to stop it. I think there’s a lot to be said about that,” Young said. “ … I think for the large majority they’re going to do what they do, and this is a game where we’ve got to make it about BYU, you know, we’ve got to make it about us and not worry so much about what they’re going to do.”
Arizona may have Burries and Bradley, but BYU has its own dynamic duo in Rob Wright III and AJ Dybantsa.
Wright is averaging 34.5 points per game on 65% shooting in his last two outings, with Dybantsa leading the country in scoring and coming off 20 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists against Colorado.
While Dybantsa and Wright are playing some of the best basketball of their lives as of late, they’ll need to continue such a trend in shouldering a much heavier workload as they press forward without Saunders by their side.
“We’re going to need him to be a play finisher in conjunction with being a playmaker,” Young said of Wright. “I think the way he’s shooting the ball from 3 and at the (rim) has been extremely impressive, and it allows AJ to play on the ball a little bit more and gives us another guy who can kind of space the floor and be, like I said, a play finisher.
“Rob and AJ and everybody, quite frankly, is going to have a lot of things on their plate, and I know those two in particular are built for this type of thing.”
In Texas Tech’s 78-75 win at Arizona on Saturday, the Wildcats allowed 11 made 3-pointers from the Red Raiders. Similarly, in BYU’s first matchup with Arizona, an eventful 86-83 loss, the Cougars hit 13 of 34 (38%) of their triples.
Thus, deep shooting will be an essential ingredient to BYU’s upset attempt in Tucson, along with toughening up in the frontcourt to keep Arizona from getting downhill.
Against Colorado, Cougar reserves Tyler Mrus, Aleksej Kostić and Mihailo Boskovic hit five combined triples in Saunders’ absence, and such performances will need to become more frequent down the stretch, especially Wednesday.
“Everyone’s going to have more opportunity. I think you saw it in the Colorado game,” Young said. “That was an extremely difficult game just from an emotional standpoint, one of the hardest games, if not the hardest game, I’ve ever had to coach in, if I’m being honest with you. But I think you saw where multiple guys have had to step up.
“Tyler comes in right out of the gate, bangs two 3s. You know, Kostic bangs the big one. (Boskovic) hits one. I think (Kennard Davis Jr.) is playing a little bit more within himself, and I’m going to try to unlock him more. I think I’ve probably done him a disservice by trying to make him, you know, a strictly catch-and-shoot guy when he has a lot more to offer, and I think we’re going to see a lot more of that now.”
“And then we’ve got to explore other lineup combinations that we haven’t looked at, and that’s some things that we’ve looked at in practice.”
With its season at a crossroads, BYU will need to reinvent itself to survive losing Saunders, debuting such an effort in two of its most challenging matchups to date this week.
But Young feels he has the necessary buy-in from his team in order to keep the ship afloat — along with the lessons learned from his own coaching background to benefit him in the hunt for a signature upset victory.
“It’s a band of brothers. ... I’m extremely motivated knowing that it’s not going to be easy, but you know, nothing’s ever really that easy,” Young said.
“ … I told our group yesterday, man, this is not new for me. I’ve been doing this, I coached in the minor leagues for nine years. I’ve had my best player called up day of game, multiple times. I’ve lost multiple players throughout seasons. You’ve got to figure it out. You’ve got to adjust on the fly.
“ … Drawing upon those past experiences gives me some confidence, and I hope it gives the group confidence as well,” Young continued. “Based on what I’ve seen in practice the last two days, I think our group is ready.”
