No. 7 BYU warms up late for win over Delaware after cold start

PROVO — Richie Saunders was on a heater inside the Marriott Center.

With temperatures hovering around 50 degrees outside, it just took him a moment to get warm.

Saunders poured in 26 points and 10 rebounds, with six second-half 3-pointers, and Robert Wright III flirted with a triple-double with 26 points, nine rebounds and nine assists as No. 7 BYU overcame a slow start to improve to 3-0 with a 85-68 win over Delaware.

AJ Dybantsa had a quiet night of 18 points, seven rebounds and two assists. But the projected NBA lottery pick was loud in spurts after the Cougars trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half.

BYU outrebounded the Blue Hens (0-3) 46-25, which has been a particular point of emphasis for head coach Kevin Young and his staff in recent days. At one point, the second-year BYU coach ended practice after Wright — the shortest player on the roster at 6-foot-1 — pulled down his first offensive rebound.

On Tuesday, the Baylor transfer had nine of them. Message received?

Maybe he just wanted that triple double, Young jokingly admitted after he looked at the final box score — something he says he doesn't do in games. That would explain why the head coach was unaware of why Wright was furiously crashing the glass with 29 seconds left and a 19-point lead.

"That's probably why he was going so hard," Young said with a laugh. "I'll have to tease him after every game."

Wright smiled when asked the same question, a question to which Saunders quipped: "Don't act like you didn't know."

"(Assistant coach Brandon) Dunson told me when he subbed me out to tell me, and then they put me back in to try," Wright said with a smile. "But I fell short."

As for Saunders, the senior from Riverton by way of Wasatch Academy started out slow, but he eventually warmed up exponentially. The secret was that there was no secret.

"I just kept shooting," Saunders said. "I think I was 0-for-3 starting out, so I just had to figure it out and keep shooting."

Christian Bliss had 18 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Blue Hens (0-3), who jumped out to a 10-0 lead and never trailed before halftime.

Macon Emory added 18 points and seven rebounds for Delaware, which had four double-digit scorers in the loss.

Jayden Taylor had 5 points and three rebounds early, and BYU trailed by as much as 13 while sleepwalking through the first half and missing on its first seven 3-point attempts.

Wright had 11 points, four rebounds and two assists; and Dybantsa and Keba Keita combined for 15 points and nine rebounds as the Cougars outrebounded Delaware 22-16 in the half.

But the Blue Hens poured in six 3-pointers to BYU's one, holding the hosts to just 12-of-32 shooting (37.5%) en route to a 37-34 halftime edge. Part of that credit goes to Delaware, who came in with a plan to slow the game down, and "mucked it up" for 20 minutes or more, Young said.

Of course, BYU was also shorthanded, playing its first game without Southern Illinois transfer Kennard Davis Jr., who was out with Achilles soreness that Young doesn't expect to be a lasting infirmity.

In his place, Dawson Baker started his first game in a BYU uniform and finished with 3 poins, six rebounds and a plus-9 in plus-minus.

"It's amazing when you take one guy out, what it does to the team," Young said. "He's such a huge part because of his toughness, his size and his defensive versatility. I think for me, I think it made us all appreciate him a little more."

The Cougars were just getting warmed up against the 33-point underdogs.

Just 11 seconds into the half, Dybantsa drained a stepback 3-pointer to tie the game at 37-37.

BYU drained seven of its first 10 3-point attempts to open the half, and Wright hit an eighth during a 17-5 second-half run that turned a 55-52 edge into a 70-57 advantage with 7:44 remaining.

Both coaches and players downplayed the notion of BYU looking ahead to Saturday's top-tier tilt with Connecticut at TD Garden in Boston, something of a return trip home for Dybantsa, who grew up in nearby Brockton, Massachusetts.

Tipoff against the No. 3 Huskies is scheduled for 5 p.m. MST on FOX.

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