No. 17 BYU faces No. 2 Houston in semifinal of Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Two of the hottest teams in the country face-off on Friday evening when No. 17 BYU takes on No. 2 Houston in the semifinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo. Tip is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT. 

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

YOU GO AT THE KING, YOU BETTER NOT MISS
Friday will be the 11th all-time meeting between the two schools and first at a neutral site since the 1978 Pillsbury Holiday Classic in Bloomington, Minn. BYU is 3-7 against Houston with one of those wins coming in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. 

In their first meeting earlier this season, BYU saw themselves down by as much as 34 in the second half, as Houston went 11-of-18 from 3-point range after halftime to secure an 86-55 victory. Trevin Knell scored a team-high 12 points off the bench for the Cougars, going 4-of-6 from behind the arc. 

 

FAMILIAR FOE, FAMILIAR RESULT
BYU extended its win streak to nine games as the Cougars defeated No. 12 Iowa State, for the second time in nine days, in the quarterfinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship, 96-92. The Cougars have now won three of the past four meetings against the Cyclones since joining the Big 12 last season. 

Eight different players knocked down a 3-pointer as BYU broke the Big 12 Championship record for 3-pointers in a game with 18. That is also the second-most in a single game in program history. BYU assisted on 24 of its 30 made baskets, including a game-high seven assists from Dallin Hall.  

Richie Saunders was one of four Cougars to score in double figures with the junior finishing with 23 points, going 6-of-12 from the field, 3-of-8 from three and 8-of-8 from the free throw line. He was a combined 21-of-21 from the charity stripe in BYU's wins over the Cyclones this season.

Fousseyni Traore had 15 of BYU's 41 bench points as the senior moved up to 26th on the BYU all-time scoring list. The native of Bamako, Mali was also a perfect 5-of-5 from the charity stripe. 

AS THE KIDS SAY, IT'S BEEN A MINUTE
With its win over No. 12 Iowa State on Thursday, BYU has now won four straight against ranked opponents for the first time since 1951, when they went 5-0 against ranked opponents. 

Three of those four wins have come away from the friendly confines of the Marriott Center, including two wins over the Cyclones. BYU is 72-168 all-time against ranked opponents, including a 3-12 record against the second-ranked team in the country. 

YOUNG BUT EXPERIENCED
With BYU's 24th win of the season, Kevin Young has tied Mark Pope for the most wins by a first-year head coach in program history. The current head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats went 24-8 during his first season in 2019-20 before the season was canceled due to COVID-19. 

The former associate head coach for the Phoenix Suns led the Cougars to 15 wins at the Marriott Center this season, tied for the most in program history with Roger Reid, who went 15-0 in his first season in Provo.  

SHOOTERS NEVER DIE
BYU's 18 3-point field goals in Thursday's win were a Big 12 Championship record and the second-most in a game in program history and most since knocking down a program-record 19 in a win over Westminster at the Delta Center on Nov. 29, 2022. Eight different players had at least one 3-pointer, another Big 12 Championship record. 

With that performance, BYU improved to 26-1 all-time when they have 15 or more triples, including 20 straight victories, with their last loss coming to Ole Miss in the First Four in 2015. 

EARLY BIRD GET BUCKETS
It is well documented that Richie Saunders woke up early as a young child to get shots up in the gym at the local church with his dad, a former First Team All-Conference player at UC Davis. All of that hard work has come to fruition this season as the junior became the 55th player in program history to sore 1,000 points on Thursday afternoon. He also became the first BYU player since Alex Barcello in 2021-22 to score 500 points in a single season. 

Friday will be Saunders' 100th game in a BYU uniform, as the junior has scored 1,107 points while shooting 50.4 percent from the field, 39.1 percent from three and 75.9 percent from the free throw line. He also has 355 rebounds, 116 assists, 83 steals and 28 blocks. 

This season, Saunders is averaging a team-high 16.2 points and is on pace to become the fifth player in program history to shoot 50/40/80, as he is shooting 51.3 percent from the field, 43.4 percent from three and 81.4 percent from the free throw line, after going 8-of-8 from the charity stripe on Thursday. 

NO SOUP FOR YOU
With four more offensive rebounds against No. 12 Iowa State, Keba Keita now has eight offensive boards in BYU's last three games. The Utah transfer's 87 offensive rebounds this season are tied the ninth-most in a single season in program history.  

You can't talk about offensive boards without mentioning Fousseyni Traore, as the senior is three away from becoming the second player in program history with 300 or more offensive rebounds. He needs only 11 more to beak Kyle Collinsworth'S record of 307 set during his record-breaking career.