Saunders leads No. 9 BYU against Utah after 31-point game

By Canadian Press on January 10, 2026.

BYU Cougars (14-1, 2-0 Big 12) at Utah Utes (8-7, 0-2 Big 12)

Salt Lake City; Saturday, 10 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: No. 9 BYU plays Utah after Richie Saunders scored 31 points in BYU’s 104-76 victory against the Arizona State Sun Devils.

The Utes have gone 7-2 in home games. Utah has a 2-3 record in games decided by 10 or more points.

The Cougars are 2-0 in conference games. BYU is fifth in the Big 12 with 36.3 rebounds per game led by Keba Keita averaging 8.2.

Utah scores 80.3 points, 12.6 more per game than the 67.7 BYU allows. BYU has shot at a 50.3% clip from the field this season, 3.8 percentage points higher than the 46.5% shooting opponents of Utah have averaged.

The matchup Saturday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Terrence Brown is averaging 21.4 points, four assists and 1.9 steals for the Utes. Don McHenry is averaging 3.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

AJ Dybantsa is averaging 23.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.5 steals for the Cougars. Saunders is averaging 18.4 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Utes: 3-7, averaging 77.2 points, 28.7 rebounds, 13.9 assists, 6.4 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 46.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 81.3 points per game.

Cougars: 10-0, averaging 88.7 points, 36.7 rebounds, 16.9 assists, 10.6 steals and 6.0 blocks per game while shooting 51.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.2 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Associated Press