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PROVO — BYU's return to the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in a year didn't come with a wire-to-wire road win over an overmatched Arizona State squad.
Maybe everything but the wire-to-wire part, though.
Richie Saunders poured in 26 points with six assists, two steals and a career-high tying six 3-pointers, and No. 25 BYU connected on a season-high 17 3-pointers to pull past Arizona State 91-81 at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe, Arizona.
Trevin Knell added 18 points and four assists for the Cougars (20-8, 11-6 Big 12), and Dallin Hall had 13 points and four assists against the shorthanded Sun Devils who suffered a seventh loss in the last eight games.
"The thing you love about Richie is how he attacks every day, because of how he attacks every day," BYU coach Kevin Young told BYU Radio. "I think that allows him to be consistent. It doesn't happen by chance.
"But I thought the guys did a great job of getting him the ball, and Dallin, as well, made some huge plays down the stretch."
BYU has won five in a row since back-to-back losses to then-No. 20 Arizona and Cincinnati. It's their first five-game in-conference win streak since 2019-20, when the Cougars were in the West Coast Conference — and Saunders and teammate Fousseyni Traore were playing together at Wasatch Academy.
Traore couldn't be happier for his former, and current, teammate — the "little big brother" of the 6-foot-6 senior from Bamako, Mali, who had 10 points and four rebounds on 4-of-5 shooting.
"He's definitely going to go over 30 the next game. He's shooting like he never misses," Traore said of Saunders, who was named Big 12 player of the week Monday. "I'm super proud of him. It has to be one of the best feelings now; we started Big 12, no one had been Big 12 player of the week. Now he's done it, and I'm so happy for him."
With the win, BYU clinched a winning record in league play and currently ties for fourth in the Big 12 standings with No. 9 Iowa State with three games remaining — including a road tilt in Ames, Iowa, on Tuesday, March 4.
Before that, the Cougars host West Virginia at 8 p.m. MST Saturday. And before that, they had to get past the Sun Devils.
Freshman Trevor Best had 18 points and Joson Sanon added 18 points, five rebounds and four assists for Arizona State (13-15, 4-13 Big 12), which played just seven players and got as close as 9 points in the second half before BYU pulled away for good.
BYU connected on its first three 3-point attempts and led by as much as 10 early in the first half.
Arizona State pulled back within a possession midway through the first half, but Hall's jumper kept the Sun Devils at bay.
That left enough time for Knell and Saunders to combine for 27 points on nine 3-pointers to help the Cougars pull away to a 47-37 halftime lead. BYU shot 10-of-22 from 3-point range before the break.
But BYU's attack was more than just the two sharpshooters, the Cougars' leading scorer and most experienced veteran. BYU outscored the Sun Devils 28-22 in the paint and led for all but 28 seconds.
Dawson Baker and Mawot Mag each connected on a pair of threes for a BYU team that was just two triples away from tying a school record.
Keba Keita was a lob machine, at least with the threat from Egor Demin, who had 10 assists as Keita finished with 8 points and seven rebounds on 4-of-4 shooting.
BYU, which led by as much as 17, opened the second half shooting 60% from the field, including 2-of-3 from deep. The Cougars assisted on 21-of-34 made field goals, shot 54.8% from the field, and outrebounded the Sun Devils 36-30 to improve to 28-19 all-time against their former Western Athletic Conference rival.
"We were just playing amazing," Traore said. "To see how everything is just clicking, coach likes to say stacking days, and I feel like that's what we're doing.
"As long as we're having fun, I think we're locking in when we need to. That's one of the best things about this team."
