Search for a leader to replace Richie Saunders continues for slumping Cougars

CINCINNATI — It figured when BYU’s basketball team lost star guard Richie Saunders to a season-ending knee injury on Feb. 14 that the already-thin Cougars would struggle to replace the senior’s production on the court.

However, filling the leadership void in Saunders’ absence has proven to be just as difficult for coach Kevin Young, as the program that began the season in the top 10 has lost two straight games, and eight of its last 12. The Cougars (20-9, 8-8) are 1-3 without the All-Big 12 player in the starting lineup, and had to go to overtime at home to beat lowly Colorado 90-86 in the game in which Saunders was injured.

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Leadership will be huge for the Cougars moving forward, Young said in his weekly press briefing on Monday, while noting that he has had conversations with the team’s two best remaining healthy players — freshman forward AJ Dybantsa and sophomore guard Rob Wright III — regarding that topic and asked them to step up as leaders a little bit more.

Replacing that aspect of Saunders’ presence “has been a work in progress, for sure,” Young said after the then-No. 19 Cougars fell behind by 14 points in the first half and lost 79-71 to unranked West Virginia on Saturday night in Morgantown.

The Cougars’ streak of 21 consecutive appearances in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, which began last season, ended Monday after the 0-2 week as BYU finished 26th in points in the rankings. Mark Pope-coached Kentucky, coincidentally, is the second team out of the AP rankings.

Indeed, these are tough times for Young’s crew, which failed to “galvanize,” in his words, after knocking off No. 6 Iowa State 79-69 in Provo on Feb. 21.

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“We’ve missed Dawson Baker’s leadership. We missed Nate Pickens’ veteran leadership, and so that’s the hand we’ve been dealt, and we have to have other guys step up,” Young said. A senior in eligibility, Pickens has yet to play for BYU since transferring in from UC Riverside; A sixth-year…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/search-leader-replace-richie-saunders-040001910.html

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Publish date : 2026-03-03 04:00:00

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