BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) slaps hands with guard Robert Wright III (1) between plays against Iowa State during a game held at the Marriott Center in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026.
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Isaac Hale, Deseret News
CINCINNATI — It figured when BYU’s basketball team lost star guard Richie Saunders to a season-ending knee injury on Feb. 14 that the already-thin Cougars would struggle to replace the senior’s production on the court.
However, filling the leadership void in Saunders’ absence has proven to be just as difficult for coach Kevin Young, as the program that began the season in the top 10 has lost two straight games, and eight of its last 12. The Cougars (20-9, 8-8) are 1-3 without the All-Big 12 player in the starting lineup, and had to go to overtime at home to beat lowly Colorado 90-86 in the game in which Saunders was injured.
Leadership will be huge for the Cougars moving forward, Young said in his weekly press briefing on Monday, while noting that he has had conversations with the team’s two best remaining healthy players — freshman forward AJ Dybantsa and sophomore guard Rob Wright III — regarding that topic and asked them to step up as leaders a little bit more.
Replacing that aspect of Saunders’ presence “has been a work in progress, for sure,” Young said after the then-No. 19 Cougars fell behind by 14 points in the first half and lost 79-71 to unranked West Virginia on Saturday night in Morgantown.
The Cougars’ streak of 21 consecutive appearances in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, which began last season, ended Monday after the 0-2 week as BYU finished 26th in points in the rankings. Mark Pope-coached Kentucky, coincidentally, is the second team out of the AP rankings.
Indeed, these are tough times for Young’s crew, which failed to “galvanize,” in his words, after knocking off No. 6 Iowa State 79-69 in Provo on Feb. 21.
“We’ve missed Dawson Baker’s leadership. We missed Nate Pickens’ veteran leadership, and so that’s the hand we’ve been dealt, and we have to have other guys step up,” Young said. A senior in eligibility, Pickens has yet to play for BYU since transferring in from UC Riverside; A sixth-year senior, Baker suffered a torn ACL in BYU’s 72-62 win over Miami on Nov. 27 and is still contemplating whether to return next season.
Baker has traveled with the team since having knee surgery, but his scoring, defense and hustle has been missed tremendously.
“I’m a very optimistic person. I think it’s a great opportunity for a guy like AJ, even though he’s a freshman, to learn how to be a leader in a very pressure-cooker type of situation,” Young said. “There’s a lot on the line, and I think he can really grow during this time because of it. I’ve talked to him about that. I think Rob is the same way.”
Young said he would also like to see more leadership out of seniors Mihailo Boskovic and Keba Keita, because they “have been through the wringer of the Big 12” and are mature players.
“It is a growth moment for our guys, and we gotta answer the call there,” Young said.
Another big opportunity for growth comes Tuesday night (7 p.m. MST, ESPN2), as BYU attempts to halt its slide against one of the hottest teams in the Big 12, if not the country, unranked Cincinnati. The Bearcats (8-8, 16-13) have won five of their last six games and are coming off a confidence-building 91-68 rout of Oklahoma State at home.
Graduate student Day Day Thomas made seven of Cincy’s 14 3-pointers in the butt-kicking.
“We’ve found some guys that are in a really good rhythm playing together so you’ve seen some extended minutes with those groups,” Cincinnati coach Wes Miller said after the blowout win.
Thomas had 15 points and backcourt mate Jizzle James added 24 in Cincy’s 84-66 blowout of BYU last year at Fifth Third Arena, a Cougars’ loss that actually turned their season around. BYU reeled off nine straight wins after that before losing 74-54 to No. 2 Houston in the Big 12 quarterfinals.
Cincinnati has risen to No. 49 in the NET rankings, and is tied with BYU and WVU in the Big 12 standings at 8-8. The Bearcats are still alive for a first-round bye in the Big 12 tournament and will be amply motivated to continue their late-season surge.
“This is a good group of guys. It is a prideful group. They want to do the right thing. It is my job to continue to teach them what the right things are, and play the guys who are going to do those right things.”
BYU coach Kevin Young
Frankly, Young’s second team in his tenure at BYU is nowhere near as deep and poised as that one was, so a turnaround this time seems highly unlikely, despite the coach’s optimism.
Before the Cougars practiced at Cincinnati’s indoor practice facility on Monday, Young said an exhaustive study of the film from the West Virginia loss showed “too many lapses with poor effort, which honestly has not really been an issue with our team.”
He said playing hard for 40 minutes is the only way the Cougars can compete in the Big 12, especially with their current roster.
“I think our guys generally play really hard. I thought in that game, for whatever reason, the intensity that was required for 40 minutes was not there,” Young said. “That was my challenge to the group. This is a good group of guys. It is a prideful group. They want to do the right thing. It is my job to continue to teach them what the right things are, and play the guys who are going to do those right things.”
Asked if he’s thinking about any starting lineup changes, after freshman Aleksej Kostic played well off the bench against WVU and started the second half in the place of Boskovic, Young said that everything is on the table at this point in the season.
Kostic was BYU’s third-leading scorer in the game, going 4 of 8 from the 3-point line for 12 points.
“It is a matchup-based thing,” Young said. “You’re just trying to win each game, right?”
Now more than ever.
BYU guard Aleksej Kostić (6) shoots a 3-pointer over UC Riverside Highlanders guard EJ Spillman (2) during the second half of a basketball game at the Marriott Center in Provo on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025.
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Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News
