PROVO — The heart and soul of BYU men's basketball made one final trip to the Marriott Center, and capped it with a wild celebration Saturday night in the Cougars' 82-76 win over No. 10 Texas Tech.
Before the game, Richie Saunders put on his jersey and iconic headband, suited up a full-length knee brace designed to keep his torn ACL intact, and joined his wife Sierra and his parents on the court to be honored alongside BYU's three other seniors in the regular-season home finale of the 2025-26 season.
Saunders' presence was never in doubt. And though he didn't play a minute, he was just as much a part of the Cougars' best win of the season (by ranking) that snapped a three-game losing skid as anyone.
Pulled out of uniform and with a crutch under one arm, Coach Saunders jumped into the fray, barking instructions at Khadim Mboup or freshman Aleksej Kostic and nearly grabbing head coach Kevin Young's clipboard from him to draw up a play.
Not that the coach didn't enjoy it.
"It was amazing," Young said. "Richie just wants to see us win, and he wants to do anything he can to help. I thought he was a steadying voice during the game. And his leadership is a reason we were able to get the win."
His impact didn't go unnoticed.
"Richie is big," fellow senior Keba Keita said. "He's impactful, even when he's not playing — just having him on the bench. If you know how Richie is, if he could play right now, he would."
a true leader! https://t.co/fEMhhC26rspic.twitter.com/cmgZyY500x
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) March 8, 2026
Robert Wright III led the team with 23 of his 27 points after halftime, and AJ Dybantsa made another argument for player of the year in the Big 12 — if not nationally — with 21 points, six rebounds and four assists. But on a night dedicated to Saunders, as well as fellow seniors Keita, Mihailo Boskovic and Jared McGregor, the spark started from the Tater Tot King.
Down as much as 13 in the first half, BYU went to work in clawing back — and it was more than just the Big 2. Kennard Davis Jr. had arguably his best game in a BYU uniform with four 3-pointers, including the go-ahead triple with 1:34 remaining to put the Cougars up for good.
Khadim Mboup added 4 points, six rebounds and an energy that can't be quantified from his 26 minutes until he waved the student section on to the floor in perhaps the most polite court storm in Big 12 history.
BYU got contributions from across the lineup in a win it desperately needed.
"Call a spade a spade: it's been a tough year," Young said. "We're coaching basically three different teams: the team we thought we were going to have before a couple of guys were done for the year, then Richie and that group before he gets hurt, and now we're on our third iteration.
"You never stop learning as a coach, particularly when your team is just constantly changing," the second-year collegiate head coach added. "That trip out east was difficult. We had to do some soul searching, I had to do a lot of just thinking, and the conclusion of that was that we've just got to simplify things: dumb it down, don't try to get cute on defense, make it solid and simple for the guys. But hold them accountable to play a little bit harder, rotate harder, rotate longer; that's really what our message was over the last few days."
Then there was Keita, the well-traveled post from Bamako, Mali, with stops at Wasatch Academy and the University of Utah whose contributions were key. The 6-foot-8 rim runner scored 9 points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds, helping the Cougars to a 41-34 advantage on the glass including 20 offensive rebounds that spurred 20 second-chance points.
BYU swarmed to a 48-14 points in the paint advantage against the Red Raiders, themselves without arguably their best player and certainly their best rebounder in last year's Big 12 player of the year JT Toppin.
Keita's impact was perhaps most felt defensively, where he often switched on to Texas Tech's perimeter shooters and used his length to hold an offense ethat shot 55.2% in the first half to just 37.9% after the break.
"It's one thing to switch, but it's another thing for it to be effective," Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. "Rob on the ball, AJ on the ball; those guys are good. But Keita on the ball causes problems."
The home crowd, which reached deafening levels in defying pre-planning timeout gimmicks, did the rest.
"Our fan base is second to absolutely none. It's been incredible everywhere we go," Young said. "It's just cool, man; I'm happy for our guys to pull out a really hard-fought win against a really good basketball team on senior night, and to be able to send the fans off on a high note at the Marriott Center was fun and rewarding."
