BYU finally shed the monkey off its back and wins a road game for the first time this season against the Colorado Buffaloes Tuesday night in Boulder.
The Cougars pulled away in the second half and cruised to an easy 83-67 win. The game started chippy, with both players on Colorado and BYU earning technical fouls in the early minutes of the game. Colorado came into the contest with a 0-6 record in conference play, so both teams were desperate for a win to get back on track.
For BYU, that meant earning its first road win of the season, and the hero in this game was none other than Richie Saunders.
He scored 14 of his team-high 25 points in the first half and kept BYU afloat when everyone else was sinking. Time after time, when BYU has needed someone to bail them out and hit a difficult shot, Saunders has answered the call more often than not this season. Against Colorado, Saunders was awesome. He is so crucial to the Cougars' success that BYU coach Kevin Young can hardly keep him off the floor. He played 17 minutes in the first period; no one else played more than 12 in the first half. Saunders finished the game with a team-high 33 minutes of action.
RICHIE DOES IT ALL!!
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) January 22, 2025
📺 ESPNU pic.twitter.com/A5u3tWrbMX
The Cougars had stretches of really great offense in the first half, but they also had stretches where the offensive flow was poor. BYU was not getting stops, and the offense was stuck in first gear, so Young needed something to get his team out of its funk. He tried multiple players who had not been in the rotation recently for a spark.
Freshman point guard Elijah Crawford got some run for the first time since conference play began, but he came in and was a -9 during his three-minute stretch. Eventually, Young found a spark with Mihailo Boskovic. He came in and played the five for BYU, giving his team a small ball, five-out offense look that got them out of a 32-22 hole late in the first half. BYU played with tempo, pace and ball movement, reminiscent of how they played during non-conference play.
BYU closed the half on a 16-4 to lead 38-36 at halftime with all the momentum. Not only did that momentum carry over to the second half, it exploded. BYU started the second half on a 23-2 run to lead 61-38. Trevin Knell caught fire behind the 3-point line, hitting three 3s in the first seven minutes of the second half to get BYU going. BYU also got to running and gunning in transition after Colorado turnovers and missed shots, where Egor Demin excelled in finding teammates and scoring the basketball.
that was filthy @whoisegor3 😮💨
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) January 22, 2025
📺 ESPNU pic.twitter.com/xrDmOwG8Y7
Stole it. Dunked it.
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) January 22, 2025
📺 ESPNU pic.twitter.com/tB76HBlhd3
Demin finished with eight points, seven assists, three steals, two blocks and only one turnover. It was the quintessential Demin performance that has NBA front offices drooling over his long term potential to impact games in a variety of different ways.
Mawot Mag tied his season high with 11 points and is continuing to earn more minutes despite his lack of 3-point shooting. He is incredibly active the ball screen and cutting for his teammates and is BYU's best all around defender. Against Colorado his screening set up Saunders and Knell for multiple 3s and his speed and athleticism were showcased when BYU got out in transition.
It was the win BYU needed to get back into rhythm and find their identity as a basketball team against an inferior Colorado team. After starting slow on both ends of the floor BYU locked in and got the confidence boosting win they needed. Only Julian Hammond III scored in double figures for Colorado, he finished the game with 17 points on 6-12 shooting.
BYU's defense suffocated Colorado for the last two thirds of the game. Meanwhile the Cougars shot 58.5% percent from the field and 45.8% from 3 to improve to 3-4 in conference play. This sets up a huge homestand against Cincinnati and Baylor starting Saturday where BYU will show if this win was real growth or an illlusion of improvement against the worst team in the Big 12.