No. 17 BYU, No. 12 Iowa State face-off in quarterfinals of Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship

The Cougars defeated the Cyclones 88-85 in double overtime last week in Ames.

Author Tyson Jex
No. 17 BYU, No. 12 Iowa State face-off in quarterfinals of Phillips 66 Big 12 ChampionshipNo. 17 BYU, No. 12 Iowa State face-off in quarterfinals of Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - No. 17 BYU plays No. 12 Iowa State on Thursday, March 13, in the quarterfinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Basketball Championship. Tip is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. CT at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo. 

WHERE TO WATCH
Thursday's quarterfinal can be found on ESPN2 with Jon Sciambi, Fran Fraschilla and Kris Budden on the call. 

RUN IT BACK
Thursday will be the ninth all-time meeting between the two schools and second at a neutral site. BYU is 2-7 against the Cyclones, with both of those wins coming since the Cougars joined the Big 12.

The two teams met last week in Ames with BYU escaping Hilton Coliseum with a 88-85 victory in double overtime. The Cougars turned the ball over a season-high 29 times but outrebounded the Cyclones by 28, 52-24, to secure their first-ever victory  in Ames.

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ANOTHER TROPHY IN THE CASE
Richie Saunders was one of 10 players named First Team All-Big 12 on Monday afternoon after leading the team in scoring. The junior was also named the Most Improved Player of the Year by the league's head coaches. 

Saunders averaged 17.9 points per game in league play as the junior scored in double figures 17 times, including nine contests with 20-plus. He scored a career-high 30 points in BYU's Big 12 opener against Arizona State, knocking down a career-high six 3-pointers.

He shot 52.4 percent from the field, a league-high 45.1 percent from three and 82.7 percent from the free throw line. He is one of three players in program history with 50 or more 3-pointers in a single conference season, going 51-of-113 from beyond the arc. 

Egor Demin earned honorable mention all-conference and all-freshman team accolades after finishing the regular season ranked in the Top 5 in assists and assists per game. The 6-foot-9 guard's 156 assists rank him first among Big 12 freshmen, while ranking fourth in scoring at 10.8 points per game.

WINNING IS CONTAGIOUS
BYU's eight-game win streak is tied for the 10th longest in NCAA Division I men's basketball with the likes of No. 1 Duke and Utah Valley. It's their longest win streak since the Cougars won nine straight to end the 2019-20 regular season before falling to the Gaels in the West Coast Conference Tournament. 

The Cougars finished tied for third in the Big 12 standings with Arizona, which is their highest finish in conference play in more than four years. Their 14 wins are tied for the second-most in program history and most since going 14-2 during Jimmer Fredette's senior season, 2010-11. 

KEEPIN' THE GLASS CLEAN
Keba Keita has 14 offensive rebounds over the past two games for the Cougars, including a record-tying nine in BYU's double overtime win over No. 10 Iowa State. The junior has three or more offensive boards 13 times this season as his 83 offensive rebounds are the 15th most in a single season in program history. 

Fellow Malian, Fousseyni Traore, enters the postseason with the second-most offensive rebounds in program history with 295. He needs five more offensive boards to become the second player in program history with 300 or more and 13 more to break Kyle Collinsworth's record of 307 

 

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THAT'S A HIGH PERCENTAGE SHOT
Keba Keita is on pace to break the BYU single season field goal percentage record as the junior is shooting 67.6 percent from the field. He has missed a total of two shots since early in the second half in BYU's win over No. 23 Kansas on Feb. 18 in Provo. 

The junior shot 68.9 percent from the field in Big 12 play, breaking the program record for the highest field goal percentage in a single conference season (min. 30 FGM). 

YESTERDAY'S HEADLINES, TODAY'S TRASH
Richie Saunders became the first Cougar to earn first team all-conference accolades since Alex Barcello in 2021-22, after leading the Cougars to a third-place finish in the Big 12 after they were picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll. 

The junior is averaging a team-high 16.0 points per game, having scored in double figures 23 times this season, two more than he had in his first two seasons in Provo combined. He has also scored 20-plus 10 times, including a career-high 30 points in BYU's conference opener against Arizona State.

If the season ended today, the native of Riverton would be one of eight players in program history to shoot 50/40/70 as he has connected on 51.4 percent from the field, 43.7 percent from three and 79.8 percent from the free throw line.  

Saunders enters Thursday's quarterfinal six points shy of becoming the 55th player in program history to score 1,000 points at BYU. He is also 20 points away from becoming the first Cougar to score 500 or more points in a single season since Barcello had 587 as a senior in 2021-22. 

O'DOYLE RULES
Egor Demin's 156 assists are tied for the 15th most in a single season in program history and three away from passing Danny Ainge for the most by a freshman in program history. He has dished out five or more assists 18 times this season, including a career-high 11 in his collegiate debut on Nov. 5 in a 88-50 victory over Central Arkansas.

The 6-foot-9 guard is not only averaging a team-high 5.6 assists per game but ranks second on the team in scoring with 10.8 points per game. He is one of eight Big 12 freshmen since 2002 to score at least 300 points with at least 100 assists.