The BYU Cougars have been dealt a huge blow ahead of their clash against the number 1 seed Arizona Wildcats. They’ve been struggling on the court lately. BYU has a tough schedule left in the regular season and the gruesome postseason as well.

But a sudden announcement has put head coach Kevin Young and star AJ Dybantsa in a tough spot ahead of March Madness. AJ Dybantsa will be without one of his key teammates heading into the crucial phase. Losing a starter will likely affect the BYU Cougars and could reshape how Head Coach Kevin Young plans the offense around AJ Dybantsa.

Senior guard Richie Saunders has revealed that he is out for the rest of the season after tearing his ACL. This means Saunders has ended his College Basketball career without having the opportunity to contribute to the BYU Cougars’ performances any further.

On the latest episode of The Field of 68: After Dark podcast, Mike LaTulip, John Martin, and Jerel McNeal talked about BYU and how Richie Saunders’ injury will impact their overall game style going forward.

LaTulip highlighted what the BYU Cougars will miss with Saunders being out, while also highlighting that they still have arguably a guaranteed top-three NBA Draft prospect in AJ Dybantsa to rely upon. La Tulip said, “That guy (Saunders) is a very important part of their offense, just with the gravity he has as a shooter, how they utilize him as a screener in that offense in transition, how he just kind of expands the defense, and creates more driving lanes there. Obviously, you still have a potential number one overall pick, certainly a top three pick.”

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Jerel McNeal added to LaTulip’s statement, highlighting how big Saunders being out is for the BYU Cougars. He said, “It dramatically changes my outlook on them. They’re not a team that has a ton of quality wins where it’s like, hey, maybe BYU should be in the top tier. But what they did have was a top six or seven guys that could match up with just anybody in the country. And Saunders was a huge part of that. It’s just going to turn things completely upside down and on its head as far as the floor space and the opportunities that AJ Dybantsa and Rob Wright are going to get going forward.”

Richie Saunders was a key player on the offense, averaging 18 points per game, and had a knack for stealing the ball away from opponents as well. The 24-year-old led the team in three-pointers made and steals while also being a strong contributor in offensive rebounding, helping the team create second-chance opportunities.

He added an outside threat, allowing Dybantsa and Robert Wright III more space to drive in or take clear shots. With Saunders now out for the season, marking the end of his College Basketball journey, the spotlight will be on Austrian freshman Aleksej Kostic, who already showed he can step up and be a potent option from beyond the arc, converting 2 of his 4 three-point shots against Colorado.

Kevin Young needs to address this under-highlighted BYU weakness

The Field of 68: After Dark podcast host John Martin pointed out a glaring hole in the BYU Cougars’ game while talking about how they are going to move forward with Richie Saunders.

However, one concerning reality about BYU’s games has been their poor starts. John Martin pointed out how the Cougars are often slow out of the gates and end up allowing the opposition to run to a healthy lead by the end of the first half.

That compounds the pressure on them to play near-perfect basketball in the second half to erase deficits. Sometimes, they are left with too much to do, and the gap is too wide to return from despite playing to their limits.

The Kansas Jayhawks raced to a 20-point lead by the end of the first half, and even though the Cougars had a 49-point second half, they fell short in the end. The Arizona game also saw them surrender a 13-point lead going into halftime, and the Cougars lost by 3.

BYU has 6 more games left in the regular season, and Head Coach Kevin Young will need to get his players to be ready from the beginning, especially with the 3-point threat from Saunders no longer present to help them cover big gaps quickly.