Richie Saunders senior season as a member of the BYU basketball team can be compared to Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa painting - it was both beautiful and unfinished.
As we look back on BYU's 2025-26 campaign, it's time to give some final grades for BYU's key players relative to what was expected of them coming into the year. When it comes to Richie Saunders, most BYU fans were expecting another All-Big 12-type season, but with the added difficulty of doing so alongside a generational talent in AJ Dybantsa on a roster that looked very different than the year before. So with that in mind, how should we assess Richie's senior season?
Richie Saunders' statistical overview
First, let's just take an objective look at Richie's stats before he was lost for the season on Valentine's Day with a gut-wrenching torn ACL.
Season stats: 25 Gs, 31.4 MPG, 18.0 PTS, 5.8 REB, 2.1 AST, 1.7 STL
Shooting splits: 48.9% FG, 37.6% 3PT, 81.7% FT
Statistically, Richie Saunders had a phenomenal season. Despite playing with two at times ball-dominant players in AJ Dybantsa and Robert Wright III, Richie still managed to score 18 points per game on overall efficient shooting.
But beyond the scoring, Richie made a significant impact as a rebounder from the wing and a demon on defense. His 5.8 rebounds per game cannot be overlooked on a BYU squad that frequently struggled to keep opposing teams off the glass. The same can be said for his gritty, tenacious defense and 1.7 steals per game on a team that at times went through defensive lulls.
He eclipsed the 30-point scoring threshold twice, and both were in Big 12 play. His best game of the season came in a loss to Kansas in which he scored a season-high 33 points on 11-of-19 shooting and pulled down 10 boards. In a blowout conference win over Arizona State he dropped 31 on a ridiculous 10-of-13 shooting with eight rebounds.
Now, there were games when Richie's 3-point shot unexpectedly abandoned him. After hitting a scorching 43.2% of his 3-pointers the season before, BYU fans were hoping for a monster year from downtown from Richie with AJ Dybantsa and Robert Wright III setting him up for wide open shots. In nonconference play he inexplicably went 0-of-7 from deep against both Clemson (win) and UConn (loss). But those two games were the outliers, and even when Richie was "cold", he rarely shot BYU out of games and still contributed everywhere else.
Despite being limited to 25 games, Richie was still named Second Team All-Big 12 in his senior season, and deservedly so.
Richie Saunders' performance relative to expectations
Expectations for Richie Saunders coming into the 2025-26 season were a repeat performance playing at an All-Big 12 level, and he delivered.
As the senior captain, he was also expected to be the experienced leader on a relatively young team, and he was more than that. While AJ Dybantsa was the All-American, Richie Saunders was the heart and soul of this year's BYU basketball team. Now, the Cougs were wobbly in Big 12 play, even with a healthy Richie Saunders, including a 1-5 stretch with the only win over lowly Utah, but the team fell apart after he tore his ACL. Back-to-back-to-back uncompetitive losses, UCF, West Virginia, and Cincinnati, illustrated shortly after his injury highlighted Richie's importance to this team.
As with the Mona Lisa, Richie Saunders' senior season was both beautiful and incomplete. And like the Mona Lisa, BYU fans for years to come will look back on Richie Saunders' career with reflection, happiness, and pride.