‘He’s our hardest worker’: Richie Saunders’ injury a devastating blow for No. 22 BYU basketball

PROVO (KSL.com) — BYU men’s basketball coach Kevin Young didn’t have any update on the severity of Richie Saunders’ injury following the 22nd-ranked Cougars’ 90-86 overtime win over Colorado on Saturday afternoon.

His star shooter provided one less than 24 hours later.

Saunders’ BYU career is over after the Riverton native by way of Wasatch Academy tore his ACL in the opening minute of Saturday’s overtime win over Colorado, he revealed Sunday on Instagram. Well past the ability to recover a medical redshirt, his four-year career that included 1,544 points on 50.2% shooting in 128 career games has played its final dribble.

“To end my BYU career like this is heartbreaking,” wrote the All-Big 12 guard in a post. “I’ve loved every moment and every challenge that came with representing the school I love. These past four years have shaped who I am — on and off the court.

“I don’t always understand why things happen the way they do,” he added, “but I trust that God is in the details. I trust his plan.”

What was supposed to be a celebratory day raising former BYU great Jimmer Fredette’s No. 32 jersey into the rafters became the Cougars’ search for answers.

Saunders was BYU’s third-leading scorer in 2025-26, averaging 18.0 points per game through a 19-6 record and a 7-5 mark in Big 12 play, behind only five-star freshman AJ Dybantsa and reigning All-Big 12 freshman Robert Wright III.

He was the second-most prolific shooter on the team with a .489 field-goal percentage that included a 37.6% from 3-point range. And he was the most experienced college basketball player in Young’s second season, having led the team in scoring en route to the Sweet 16 a year ago.

If Dybantsa was the star and Wright was an engine of the Cougars, Saunders was the heart, soul and spirit of the group, one of four members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the roster who grew up going to BYU basketball games with his parents and grandfather — and dreaming of the chance to wear the blue jersey himself.

“He means a lot. He’s our hardest worker,” Wright said of Saunders. “He’s a super talented player, too.”

Losing Saunders just 45 seconds into Saturday’s game offered an example of the team without their third-leading scorer. Wright set a career-high for the second game in a row with 39 points, and Dybantsa finished two assists shy of a 20-point triple-double in the overtime win as the Cougars rebounded from the shocking that “sucked the life out of the gym,” Young admitted.

“It obviously hurt us,” Wright added after the double-digit favorites survived. “The game might have been closer than it should have been. But it was good to pull through with the next man up.”

So who is the Cougars’ next man as it turns toward a top-tier Big 12 tilt at Arizona — the No. 1-ranked team in the country that assuredly won’t be ranked as such Monday after the Wildcats’ 78-76 overtime loss to Texas Tech on Saturday — and the rest of the Big 12 schedule, and beyond?

If Saunders was one of BYU’s top shooters, then that will be the next man up will likely be a shooter. That could include Tyler Mrus, the Idaho transfer who came off the bench after Saunders’ injury and buried a pair of first-half 3-pointers, and Aleksej Kostic, the Austrian freshman whose two triples against the Buffs included the gamewinner from Wright in the final moments of overtime.

Kostic was brought in to be a shooter. Through 25 games of his freshman season, he’s only appeared in 17 of them and making threes at a 35% clip. But the confidence of draining 2-of-4 including a clutch 3 in overtime may help.

Young has regularly voiced a need for more shooting from a bench group that also includes primary reserve Mihailo Boskovic, versatile wing Khadim Mboup, and defensive stopper Abdullah Ahmed, and that need is even greater now.

“It’s a beautiful thing, what seeing the ball go through the net does to your confidence,” Young said. “You also draw a lot of confidence when your teammates believe you are going to make shots. They’re looking for him, and trying to find him on kick outs.

“Not just him, but Tyler, too. With Richie’s situation, we’re going to need some shooting and I’m glad those guys could do it in a game that we needed to get a win.”