{"id":177867,"date":"2026-02-15T23:07:55","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T04:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=177867"},"modified":"2026-02-15T23:07:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T04:07:55","slug":"what-does-richie-saunders-injury-means-for-byu-does-the-shapshooting-wing-have-a-nba-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/02\/15\/what-does-richie-saunders-injury-means-for-byu-does-the-shapshooting-wing-have-a-nba-future\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does Richie Saunders Injury Means For BYU, Does The Shapshooting Wing Have A NBA Future?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The BYU Cougars<\/a> had high hopes entering the season, mainly thanks to freshman sensation and projected one-and-done NBA<\/a> prospect, AJ Dybansta<\/a>. While the Cougars have had a strong season, they have scuffled lately and received the worst news possible earlier this evening.<\/p>\n

According to Grant Grubb of On3.com<\/a>, star forward Richie Saunders<\/a> will miss the rest of the season after tearing his ACL last night in BYU’s 90-86 victory over Colorado.<\/a> Saunders suffered the season-ending injury in the first minute of the contest.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo end my BYU career like this is heartbreaking,\u201d Saunders\u00a0<\/span>wrote<\/a>\u00a0in a post on Instagram. \u201cI\u2019ve loved every moment and every challenge that came with representing the school I love. \u201cCougar Nation, thank you. Through the ups and downs, you\u2019ve stuck with me. I\u2019ll never forget that. My story has never been one of ease.”<\/span><\/p>\n

BYU overcame the loss of Saunders, the Cougars’ second-leading scorer, and a poor shooting performance by Dybantsa to improve to 19-6 on the season. Thanks, in large part, to Robert Williams III’s<\/a> career night as he tossed in 39 points on 12 of 16 shooting from the field, along with five rebounds and four assists. Dybantsa did finish the game with strong numbers, tallying 20 points along with 13 rebounds and eight assists for his third double of the campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n

Saunders was in the midst of a career season this year. The 6-5 wing, who was named the Big 12<\/a> Most Improved Player, averaged 18.0 points along with 5.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists. He knocked down 2.6 threes with shooting splits of 48.9\/37.6\/81.7. He also produced three double-doubles and scored 20-plus points 11 times, topping the 30-point mark twice.<\/p>\n

What Does Richie Saunders Injury Mean for BYU? Does The Shapshooting Wing Have An NBA Future?<\/h2>\n

Not only is Saunders season over, but his collegiate career is as well. The 24-year-old is no longer eligible, having spent his entire collegiate career in Provo. He is one of the best two-way players to don a BYU uniform.<\/p>\n

Saunders finishes his career with 1,544 points and ranks eighth in program history with 205 triples and 3-point attempts (530). Saunders ranks in the top 20 in steals (133) and steals per game (1.03). He has also racked up the 17th most 20-point games and 17th most 30-point nights in school lore.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With Saunders on the sidelines, BYU’s three-headed monster turns to a two-man show. Make no mistake, Williams III and Dybantsa are talented enough to carry the Cougars to a third straight NCAA berth. While the Cougars are deep, they will need Kennard Davis<\/a> and Miholio Boskovic<\/a> to step up.<\/p>\n

Davis, who earned second-team All-MVC honors last season at Southern Illinois, has struggled with his shot this year, though he is a high-volume 3-point shooter. Davis got off to a fast start but found the sledding more difficult over the following two months. However, he has scored in double figures in two of his last six outings.<\/p>\n

Boskovic is a veteran with extensive international experience. Boskovic has shot the ball better this year than last, allowing him to get more looks with Saunders out. The 23-year-old averages 3.3 points, on 45.3% shooting, and 2.8 rebounds in 13 minutes of action. While coming off the bench for most of the season, he has started one game.<\/p>\n

While BYU had aspirations of competing for a Big 12 title and a national title, its hopes of reaching those goals are now likely dead. Still, the Cougars should reach the 20-win mark and the NCAA Tournament for a third straight season.<\/p>\n

BYU sits in sixth place in the conference at 7-5 with six regular-season games left. But the Cougars don’t have an easy finish with Arizona<\/a> (Feb. 18) and Iowa State (Feb. 21) up this week. The Cougars then host UCF before travelling to West Virginia and Cincinnati. They close the slate out against Texas Tech at home on March 7.<\/p>\n

Saunders is the second player BYU has lost this season to injury. Senior guard Dawson Baker<\/a> also tore his ACL at the end of November.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Richie Saunders NBA Future<\/h3>\n

Saunders is definitely an NBA prospect due to his two-way ability. Before the injury, Saunders was considered a second-round pick (likely early) and was the 40th-best prospect on ESPN’s latest big board<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Saunders has a high motor, a strong, NBA-ready build, solid athleticism, and good length. Saunders biggest asset is his shooting — draining 1.6 threes a game at a 39% clip for his collegiate career and nearly 80% at the foul line — and shoots well on the move, not just on the catch. He thrives <\/span>as <\/span>a <\/span>finisher, <\/span>cutter, <\/span>and <\/span>rhythm <\/span>scorer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Defensively, Saunders is just as good individually as he is in a team situation. Saunders is uber competitive on that end and can guard either wing position. Additionally, he is a good communicator while excelling as a rebounder.<\/p>\n

While Saunders could be drafted, he won’t be able to play or take physical tests at the NBA combine because of his long recovery. As a result, it is more likely he will go undrafted and earn a two-way deal. He also will not be available to play in the NBA Summer League. Additionally, his age will likely play a role in whether he gets drafted more so than before.<\/p>\n

Saunders should play in 2026-27, wherever he lands, the NBA team will likely let him take his time.\u00a0 If Saunders doesn’t suffer any ill effects from the ACL injury, he projects to develop into a solid NBA rotational player, averaging 15 to 20 minutes per game.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Aaron Baker<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The BYU Cougars had high hopes entering the season, mainly thanks to freshman sensation and projected one-and-done NBA prospect, AJ Dybansta. While the Cougars have had a strong season, they have scuffled lately and received the worst news possible earlier this evening. According to Grant Grubb of On3.com, star forward Richie Saunders will miss the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3146,"featured_media":177896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,773,2,62,3],"tags":[2980,2792,2876],"class_list":["post-177867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-college-basketball","category-featured","category-nba","category-news","tag-big-12-basketball","tag-byu-cougars","tag-colorado-buffaloes"],"modified_by":"Daniel Benjamin, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177867"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177897,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177867\/revisions\/177897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}