For BYU veterans Saunders and Traore, ‘it means so much’ to end the Cougars’ NCAA Tournament losing skid
The former high school teammates combined for 29 points in BYU’s first tournament win since 2012
DENVER — When Fousseyni Traore is balling, no one is happier about it than Richie Saunders.
Saunders and Traore go way back — they were high school teammates at Wasatch Academy and have played together at BYU for the past three seasons.
Over the course of their time sharing the court, Saunders has seen plenty of strong performances from Traore, but none more crucial than Thursday’s 13-point, nine-rebound showing in the Cougars’ 80-71 first round NCAA Tournament win over VCU in Denver.
“I love it, it makes me just so, so hyped when he’s doing well, when he’s cooking down low,” Saunders told reporters of Traore. “It’s so fun to watch, so fun to play with that. When you know you need a bucket, you know the ball is going right back to him. You know his defender is scared. He deserves every bucket, he’s worked hard. I’m just super happy.”
Led by Traore, BYU scored 38 points in the paint against the highly touted Rams defense, proving much more physical and, frankly, more willing to do whatever it took to win.
Saunders was no slouch either — the First Team All-Big 12 selection and “tater tot king” finished with a team-high 16 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals against VCU.
The Cougars and Rams went back and forth for the majority of the first half, only for BYU to take a 30-10 run over a nine-minute stretch to leave VCU in the dust and earn the program’s first tournament victory since 2012 — when Saunders and Traore were just children.
“Our team, we’re so deep,” Saunders said. “During that little run, a lot of the second unit was right in there making it happen. I love it because there’s so many different tools that we can use as a team. We were playing fast, sharing the ball, which is BYU basketball right there.”
“We definitely believe that this is a special team,” Traore added. “We really believe in each other.”
For the pair of veterans, exorcising BYU’s March demons was a matter of great importance. Two years ago, the Cougars dropped a number of heartbreakers, barely finished over .500 and didn’t play in the postseason. In 2024, the team earned a 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament, only to be punked in the first round by another Atlantic 10 champion in Duquesne.
Last year’s tournament disappointment was one of several forces driving BYU to flip the script on Thursday — along with keeping the college careers of seniors Traore, Trevin Knell, Mawot Mag and Trey Stewart alive for as long as possible.
“This actually means everything to me, especially in my senior year,” Traore said of ending the Cougars’ winless streak in the tournament. “We just don’t want to go down like that. Every single game can be our last game, you know? No matter what it takes, we’re just going to get it done. We just got one (win) down, five more to go.”
Advancing to the Round of 32 — BYU’s first such trip since 2011 — was merely the first item on BYU’s Denver agenda. The Cougars have a date with 3 seed Wisconsin on Saturday, where they’re eager to expand their March narrative from just a single, long-awaited win to a magical run into the Sweet Sixteen and beyond.
“Like Fousseyni said, it’s amazing,” Saunders said. “It means so much, right? We’ve had such ups and downs this season, but we’re not ready to be done yet. It means so much that we were able to win, get to this point that we haven’t done before. We’re eager to face this next challenge.”
