Coming into Tuesday night’s matchup with Delaware at the Marriott Center, No. 7 BYU had been ice cold from deep — just 12-of-42 from three in its first two games, a dismal 29 percent clip.
For context, last year’s squad shot 37 percent from beyond the arc, so it’s fair to call this slow start an outlier.
But early on against Delaware, that slump showed no signs of slowing.
The Cougars missed their first 11 attempts from deep before transfer guard Rob Wright finally broke the spell with just under three minutes left in the first half.
At halftime, BYU was shooting under 38 percent from the field and trailed 37–34.
As the buzzer sounded inside the Marriott Center, you could sense the uneasiness among BYU’s faithful. Confusion — maybe even doubt — began to creep in across the 18,299 Cougar fans.
Was BYU looking past an 0–2 Delaware team with No. 4 UConn looming on Saturday?
When coach Kevin Young was asked postgame if that was the case, he kept it brief as he said, “maybe.”
That being said, BYU came out in the second half and flipped the script.
The Cougars sent home 11 threes after halftime — six of them from senior guard Richie Saunders — turning a sluggish start into a commanding lead they’d never relinquish on their way to an 85–68 win.
BYU's Richie Saunders was ELITE tonight:
— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) November 12, 2025
26 PTS | 10 REB | 9-16 FG | 6-11 3PT pic.twitter.com/8mVjKkXblS
What fans need to understand is that this BYU team is still figuring itself out.
The Big Three is continually learning how to coexist. These are three ultra-aggressive guards trying to understand each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and natural tendencies — and cohesion doesn’t happen overnight.
Wright is settling into his role as a facilitator, getting deep into the paint and kicking out to open shooters instead of forcing tough finishes over bigger defenders. Saunders, in particular, reaped the rewards of that adjustment in the second half.
When asked about Wright’s performance, Young said, “Him and I have had a lot of discussions, pretty frank ones to be honest, about how important his decision-making is when he gets in the paint, and I thought tonight he was surgical.”
Wright finished with 26 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists — a near triple-double performance.
All that to say that there is still going to be some offensive clunkiness along the way. But the flashes of cohesion are there — and when the Cougars click, as they did in that second half, this team looks every bit as dangerous as advertised.
Until it clicks on a more consistent basis, though, BYU fans will have to practice the art of patience.