No. 17 BYU faces No. 13 Wisconsin in second round of NCAA Tournament

DENVER, Colo. - No. 17 BYU returns to action on Saturday, March 20, when the Cougars take on No. 13 Wisconsin in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Denver, Colo. Tip is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. MT at Ball Arena. 

WHERE TO WATCH
Saturday's conteset can be found on CBS with Brad Nessler, Brendan Haywood and Dana Jacobson the call. 

AIR WISCONSIN
Saturday will be the third all-time meeting between the two schools, and it will be the first time in program history that BYU will play a school from the Big Ten in The Big Dance.  

The Cougars are 0-2 all-time against the Badgers, including a 73-56 setback on Nov. 26, 2011 at the Chicago Invitational Challenge. BYU was unable to contain Ben Brust in the championship game as he went 7-of-10 from 3-point range en route to a game-high 21 points. Noah Hartsock was the only Cougar to score in double figures, finishing with 18 points, six rebounds and four blocks. 

Mawot Mag faced the Badgers three times during his four-year career at Rutgers, averaging 5.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists, shooting 46.2 percent from the field, 25.0 from three and 100.0 percent from the free throw line. 

SURVIVE AND ADVANCE
BYU picked up its 25th win of the season on Thursday with an 80-71 victory over VCU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Denver, Colo. The Cougars are now 2-0 all-time against the Rams with both victories coming on a neutral floors. 

After falling to the Atlantic 10 champion in last season's tournament, BYU shot 50.0 percent or better from the field for the 17th time this season as the Cougars shot 27-of-54 from the field in the win over the Rams. The Cougars also held a 40-31 advantage in rebounds, with 14 of those coming on the offensive glass.

Richie Saunders was one of three Cougars to score in double figures as the junior finished with 16 points, going 6-of-12 from the field, 1-of-6 from three and 3-of-3 from the free throw line. Keba Keita just missed out on his fourth double-double of the season, as the junior finished with nine points, nine rebounds and four blocks. His fellow countryman, Fousseyni Traore, had 13 points and nine boards.

RAISING THE STANDARD
Kevin Young's 25 wins are the most by a first-year head coach in program history, breaking a tie with current Kentucky head coach Mark Pope. With the win on Thursday, Young became the second first-year head coach in program history to win an NCAA Tournament game, joining LaDell Anderson on the list. 

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
With four assists in the win over VCU, Dallin Hall has now led the team in assists 16 times this season and 48 times during his three-year in Provo. It also brought his career total to 405, moving him into a tie for 10th on the all-time list with Scott Runia (1976-80). 

With zero turnovers against the Rams, Hall now has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.60:1, which is the 12th highest in a single season in program history. He is on pace to become just the second player in program history to have multiple seasons with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.50:1 or higher. 

 

NO STAGE FRIGHT
Keba Keita's four blocks in Thursday'ss first round win over VCU are tied for the second-most in a NCAA Tournament game in program history and most since Shawn Bradley had 10 rejections against Virgina on March 14, 1991. The junior and fellow countrymen, Fousseyni Traore, also had four offensive rebounds, tied for the fifth-most in program history.

Keita soars in for the Cougars REJECTION 🚫

BYU vs VCU underway NOW: https://t.co/Cw7PWdGBCY#MarchMadness @BYUMBB pic.twitter.com/eqp8pCYJRk

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 20, 2025

YOU EITHER WIN OR YOU DON'T
Thursday was Trevin Knell's 106th victory as a Cougar, tied for the sixth-most in program history with Jackson Emery. BYU has won 71.6 percent of the games that the 6-foot-5 guard has played in, which is the 17th-highest mark in program history. 

NO NEED TO TOUCH THE THERMOSTAT
Entering the second round of the NCAA Tournament, BYU has won 10 of its last 11 games, with four of those coming against ranked opponents. The Cougars are outscoring opponents 82.8-74.5 during that stretch while shooting 48.6 percent from the field, 37.3 percent from three and 73.8 percent from the free throw line. 

As you would expect, Richie Saunders has been the driving force for the Cougars, averaging 17.8 points per contest. He is shooting nearly 50/40/90 during the stretch as he is 65-of-127 from the field, 24-of-61 from three and 42-of-47 from the charity stripe. Dallin Hall has been exceptional as well as the junior is averaging 9.0 points per game with 51 assists and only 17 turnovers. 

HOLY MALI
Speaking of Keba Keita. With four more offensive rebounds on Thursday, the junior brought his season total to 96, leaving him four shy of joining Eric Mika (2016-17) as the only players with 100 or more offensive boards in a single season in program history. His 2.91 offensive rebounds per game are the third-most in program history.

Over BYU's past five games, Keita has been playing some of the best basketball of his colleigate career as the native of Bamako, Mali is averaging 10.2 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game, all while shooting 67.7 percent from the field. Twenty-seven of his 53 rebounds have been on the offensive glass, including a program-record nine in a double overtime victory at No. 10 Iowa State on March 4.