No. 22 BYU survives Colorado in 90-86 OT thriller – Deseret News

BYU picks up another dramatic win.

The Cougars survived an upset attempt from Colorado for a 90-86 overtime victory Saturday. It marked BYU’s second win in a row, but the Cougars’ ceiling has potentially been lowered dramatically following an early injury to Richie Saunders.

BYU is now 19-6 on the season and 7-5 in Big 12 play.

3 takeaways

Richie Saunders got hurt. Nothing from Saturday matters more for BYU than what happened to Saunders and what it means for his future.

Less than a minute into the game, a jumping Saunders landed awkwardly on his right foot, taking a hard fall and immediately clutching his right knee.

Saunders remained on the ground for a while before being helped up, needing assistance for the beginning of his walk back to the locker room before eventually walking out on his own power.

Though he did give a double thumbs up to fans as he left the floor, Saunders never returned to the BYU bench, let alone the game, with his wife and parents being summoned back into the locker room to see him.

It would be borderline catastrophic for the Cougars to lose Saunders, their second-leading scorer and foremost veteran leader, for extended time, let alone the rest of the season.

Without Saunders, BYU’s ceiling likely plummets. The Cougars would have to both tap into their shaky depth and add to an already heavy workload for AJ Dybantsa and Rob Wright III in order to replace his production.

It’s a really tough spot to be put in this late in a season with such lofty expectations.

The Cougars couldn’t put away Colorado. BYU, a heavy pregame favorite, never led by more than eight points against a Buffaloes team that was coming off a 78-44 loss at Texas Tech.

The early loss of Saunders definitely played a role in the less than stellar showing, but the Cougars also turned the ball over 16 times to result in 21 Colorado points.

Leading by seven points with under five minutes to play, BYU made just 2 of its next 6 shot attempts — with no makes in the final three minutes — while coughing up two untimely turnovers.

Conversely, Colorado drained 5 of its 8 final shots of regulation, including two 3-pointers, to send the game to overtime.

Fortunately for the Cougars, the Buffaloes shot just 2 of 10 in overtime, with an Aleksej Kostic’s 3-pointer giving the home team a lead it didn’t surrender the rest of the way.

BYU’s shooting was strange. The Cougars shot 50% from 3-point range — a fitting tribute to Jimmer Fredette on the day of his jersey retirement — for their best such mark against a Big 12 opponent this season.

But while the deep shooting was tremendous for BYU, the Cougars made just 45% of their 2-pointers, continuing their recent struggles around the rim with six missed layups.

Dybantsa, despite seven turnovers and shooting 6 for 20, flirted with a triple-double in the form of 20 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists.

Wright, fresh off a career-high in points earlier this week in his return to Baylor, put up a new personal best with 39 points, adding five rebounds and four assists.