On Dec. 29, 2022, freshman Richie Saunders scored four points off the bench to help BYU topple conference opponent the Pacific Tigers.
On Tuesday, Sunders, now a potential All-American, was leagues ahead of Pacific's best roster, leading the No. 9 BYU Cougars to a dominant 93-57 win.
How times have changed.
"He's just a maniacal worker," BYU coach Kevin Young said about his star senior. "When you work as hard as he does and you're as competitive as he is, a lot of things can happen."
Saunders' first-half defensive intensity set the tone for the Cougars, who only allowed 20 first half points and forced 12 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. Saunders added five steals himself, which surpassed his previous career-high of four.
"It was all field by our defense, which has been really good," Young said.
Almost immediately after the tipoff, the game was in control for BYU. The Cougars outclassed the inferior opponent that once used to play on a similar playing level.
Saunders has changed a lot as a player since his inaugural West Coast Conference game against Pacific in 2022.
Back then, he was a scrappy freshman who was still trying to find his role as an effective bench player. Against the Tigers in Dec. 2022, he logged 15 minutes, but some games he struggles to play even five.
On Tuesday, he finished with a routine 24 points.
"I do think [Saunders' career improvement] has coincided with our style of play," Young said. "A lot of five-out which creates a lot of close-out opportunities for him, and we try to play in transition, which is an area where he's really good."
Another glaring difference between Tuesday's BYU team and that of the 2022-23 Cougars — besides the Big 12 patch on its jerseys — is the talent on its roster.
This year's BYU squad features a sure-fire top-three NBA Draft pick in AJ Dybantsa and one of the best point guards in the country in Rob Wright lll. It's a far-cry from the team that finished 5th in the WCC three years ago.
Dybantsa came into Tuesday night's game playing the best basketball of his young career. In the three games prior, Dybantsa had at least 20 points and five rebounds in all contests and shooting 61.2% from the field.
Against Pacific, he was a tier above every Tiger player, scoring 23 points, snagging 10 rebounds and even wowing the crowd with a fast break windmill slam. Tuesday's stat line marked his first double-double of the season.
"Coach has been on my head that I should be averaging around 10 rebounds with my athleticism," Dybantsa said. "I've been stuck on like six to eight for a couple games, so I'm just trying to be more active on the boards."
Wright also had an elite stat line, scoring 22 and dishing out 4 assists.
It was the first game where BYU's "Big-3" all scored at least 20 points.
"It's gonna be hard for teams to pick their poison," Dybantsa said about BYU's elite trio.
With the win, BYU improves to 10-1 on the season and are in the midst of a seven-game win streak following the two-point loss to No. 5 UConn in November.
The Cougars host Abilene Christian on Friday at 7:30 MST.