BYU’s Richie Saunders On When He Connected With Kevin Young’s Scheme
Mar 25, 2025, 9:25 PM | Updated: Mar 26, 2025, 12:47 pm
NEWARK, N.J. – Richie Saunders has become the star of BYU basketball this season.
Once viewed as a “glue guy” during his first two seasons with the Cougars, the Riverton native and former Wasatch Academy standout emerged this season as a First Team All-Big 12 performer and the league’s “Most Improved Player” award.
Last week, Saunders was excellent, scoring 25 points and grabbing seven rebounds to lift BYU past No. 3 seed Wisconsin and send them into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2011.
Richie Saunders is garnering headlines on and off the court
Saunders has garnered recent national attention as the “Tater Tot King” or “Heir Richie” for being the great-grandson of the man who invented tater tots.
But his play on the floor has grabbed headlines as well.
Saunders is now preparing to lead BYU into the Sweet 16 against No. 2 Alabama on Thursday night at the Prudential Center in Newark.
It has been a memorable year for Saunders.
But the year started with him in the transfer portal last April.
After former head coach Mark Pope took the job at Kentucky, BYU was without a coach for a few days. The program was uncertain, and Saunders entered the portal because of this uncertainty.
After being recruited in the portal by Kentucky and others, Saunders returned to BYU to play for new head coach Kevin Young.
Saunders is averaging 16.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists, shooting 51% from the field and 43% from three-point range, all career bests.
It begs the question: Why has Kevin Young’s system unleashed so much more in Saunders’ game?
Saunders on Kevin Young: “He just challenged me.”
Richie Saunders joined Hans Olsen and Scott Garrard on “Hans & Scotty G.” on the KSL Sports Zone to discuss that.
“I’m in the portal and I’m watching film with Coach Young. Right off the bat, he just challenged me,” Richie Saunders said to the KSL Sports Zone’s Hans & Scotty G. “He gave me a few different challenges. From that moment, I was just like, ‘OK, this guy, he believes in me and he knows and can help me to reach higher.'”
Saunders has been a consistent bucket-getter for BYU this season. He’s put together 12 games where he scored at least 20 points. Saunders has been the veteran leader that BYU sorely needed in a foundational year under Kevin Young.
It hasn’t always gone smoothly. BYU had a weak nonconference schedule that didn’t test them much, and during that portion of the schedule, they dealt with various injuries to key players.
Then, they opened up Big 12 play with a 2-4 record. During those stretches, Richie Saunders established himself as BYU’s number one option.
“When Egor (Demin) goes down and he’s got his (knee contusion) injury, then there were a couple of other injuries. I just had to figure it out, how to get through this,” Saunders said. “That’s kind of how it kind of shaped up.
BYU basketball has won 11 of its last 12 games
Saunders clearly figured it out as he’s become one of the most efficient players in the Big 12 Conference this season. Then, as a team, BYU heads into the second weekend as one of the hottest teams in college hoops, winning 11 of its last 12 games.
“I take my past two seasons, and a combination of that has led me to this point,” said Saunders. “It’s just a matter of ‘keep growing and evolving your game.’ I hope every young kid or whatever [hears that]. You’ve just got to keep evolving, taking one thing at a time, and if you keep doing that for long enough, I believe good things happen.”
BYU vs. Alabama
Regional Semifinals – 2025 NCAA Tournament
Location: Newark, New Jersey
Arena: Prudential Center
Date: Thursday, March 27, 2025
Tip-Off: 5:09 p.m. (MDT)/7:09 p.m. (EDT)
TV: CBS
Radio: KSL NewsRadio (102.7 FM, 1160 AM in Utah — Extended pregame begins at 3 p.m. MDT/5 p.m. EDT)
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.
