Cougars host No. 20 Arizona on Tuesday evening

PROVO, Utah - BYU returns to the friendly confines of the Marriott Center on Tuesday, Feb. 4, when the Cougars host No. 20 Arizona. Tip is scheduled for 9 p.m. MT. 

WHERE TO WATCH
Tuesday's game will air on ESPN with Mark Neely and Corey Williams on the call. 

FELINE FIESTA
Tuesday's clash will be the 40th all-time meeting between the two schoools who were Western Athletic Conference foes from 1962-78. BYU is 19-20 all-time against the Wildcats, including a 14-4 record in Provo. 

The Cougars have won two straight in the series as they welcome the Wildcats to the Marriott Center for the first time since a 78-74 overtime setback on Nov. 28, 1998. Mark Bigelow scored a game-high 24 points but was unable to overcome a combined 31 points from Richard Jefferson and Jason Terry. 

THE GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH
BYU extended its win streak to four games on Saturday afternoon with a 81-75 win over UCF at Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Fla. The Cougars are now 4-0 all-time against the Knights with two of those wins coming on the road. 

BYU vs UCF || FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS pic.twitter.com/VpLZCEnDry

— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) February 2, 2025

In a game where neither team led by more than seven points, BYU won back-to-back road games in league play for the first time since February 2021, shooting 48.3 percent from the field, 43.8 percent from three and 57.9 percent from the free throw line. The Cougars knocked down 14 3-pointers, six of those coming from Richie Saunders, as the junior finished with a game-high 22 points. Mawot Mag has his best offensive performance as a Cougar, going for 19 points and a career-high five assists. 

HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE
Last Tuesday's overtime victory Baylor was the Cougars' 650th win at the Marriott Center since it was opened Dec. 3, 1971. With the win over the Bears they improved to 650-155 and have won 10 or more games in Provo in each of the past 20 seasons. 

RICHIE ON A ROLL
Since being held to six points in a loss to Texas Tech, Richie Saunders has scored in double figures in seven straight games, where he is averaging 19.9 points per contest. He is shooting 52.7 percent from the field, 53.5 percent from three and 81.8 percent from the free throw line during that same stretch. 

In league play, Saunders ranks third in scoring at 18.4 points per game while sitting first in 3-point field goal percentage and third in field goal perrcentage. His 30 3-pointers are also top in the conference, two more than Arizona's Caleb Love. 

COUSIN VINNY
After going 4-of-7 from 3-point range on Saturday, Trevin Knell brought his career total to 212 and now sits four triples away from passing Mark Bigelow and Chase Fischer for fifth on the all-time 3-point list. The senior is also 15 points away from becoming the 54th player in program history to score 1,000 points, joining current teammate Fousseyni Traore.

A DEMIN A DOZEN
Egor Demin enters the week third in the Big 12 and 27th nationally in assists per game with 5.9 helpers per contest. The 6-foot-9 freshman led the Cougars in assists for a team-high 15th time on Saturday, with six assists and five turnovers. His 106 assists this seaason are the seventh-most by a freshman in program history. 

FOLLOW THE LEADER
Fousseyni Traore sits 29th on the all-time scoring list with 1,220 points following his nine-point performance in Saturday's win over UCF. The program's all-time leader in field goal percentage is one of six NCAA Division I men's basketball players to be shooting over 60.0 percent from the field with at least 450 field goals made. 

The senior from Bamako, Mali is also two rebounds away from becoming the 13th player in program history with 800 rebounds. It would also make him the 40th active NCAA DI men's player with 800 or more boards. 

UP NEXT
BYU heads back on the road on Saturday, Feb. 8, when the Cougars take on Cincinnati in the The Queen City for the first time since 1931. Tip is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on ESPN2.