BYU loses Richie Saunders for season after torn ACL: What this means for the Cougars

BYU guard Richie Saunders announced on social media that he suffered a torn ACL and will miss the rest of the season.

Saunders was a crucial piece to No. 22 BYU alongside highly touted freshman AJ Dybantsa. The 6-foot-5 senior averaged 18 points per game, 5.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists on 49 percent shooting.

Saunders left the Colorado game early after falling while driving to the basket. The Cougars went on to win 90-86 in overtime.

This was likely Saunders’ final collegiate game. He was a four-year player for the Cougars and earned All-Big 12 honors last season. Saunders was the 35th-ranked player in Sam Vecenie’s Top 100 NBA Draft prospect rankings.

What does this mean for BYU’s season

Losing Saunders is another huge blow to the Cougars, who have struggled with depth outside of their main pieces. BYU lost veteran Dawson Baker six games into the season, another prolific shooter and a returner from last season.

The Cougars were 16-1 at one point and in the top 10 of the rankings, but have dropped five of their last eight games. Four of those losses came against ranked opponents.

At their best, BYU has the offensive talent between Dybantsa, Rob Wright and Saunders to hang with any team in the country. They fell by three points to Arizona a few weeks ago and lost by two to UConn in non-conference play.

Dybantsa constantly demands defensive attention, and Saunders capitalized on Dybantsa’s offensive gravity by punishing the team with his shooting, while also being a very capable driver. Wright was another capable player who helped set up Saunders, but now there are questions about whether BYU has the shooting around Dybantsa and Wright to make defenses pay.

In The Athletic’s latest NCAA Tournament Bracket Watch, BYU was ranked as a sixth seed. The Cougars have six games left, including No. 1 Arizona, No. 5 Iowa State and No. 16 Texas Tech, all of whom remain formidable Big 12 opponents.