INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – BYU’s Richie Saunders was named the USBWA Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week on Tuesday afternoon after leading the 11th-ranked Cougars to a pair of wins last week.
For the 2025-26 season, the USBWA continues its national player of the week program that has been affiliated with the Oscar Robertson Trophy since the 2009-10 season. Prior to the 2024-25 season, the USBWA had recognized just one player each week.
Each Tuesday during the regular season, designated USBWA board members will select five standouts from the 31 Division I conference players of the week to be recognized. This week’s selections were chosen from a list of conferences that named a player of the week on Monday.
The senior averaged 27.5 points and 11.0 rebounds in wins over Arizona State and Utah while shooting 65.5 percent from the field, 53.3 percent from three and 75.0 percent from the free throw line.
Saunders scored 30-plus for the second time in his career in BYU’s 104-76 win over the Sun Devils as the Riverton native finished with a career-high 31 points, going 10-of-13 from the field, 6-of-8 from three and 5-of-5 from the free throw line. He also had eight rebounds, three assists and two steals as the Cougars improved to 3-0 against ASU since joining the Big 12.
The bucket + the foul
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) January 11, 2026
Richie with 19 so far pic.twitter.com/wrISDiRNDT
He followed that up with a 24-point, 14-rebound double-double, leading BYU to its first win over Utah at the Huntsman Center since 2021. Saunders scored 17 of those points in the second half as he went 6-of-7 from the field, 1-of-2 from three and 4-of-7 from the free throw line while pulling down seven rebounds, four of those on the offensive end.
No. 11 BYU returns to action on Wednesday, Jan. 14, when the Cougars host TCU at the Marriott Center. Tip is scheduled for 9 p.m. MT on ESPN2.