Traore, Saunders lead BYU basketball past Idaho

Fousseyni Traore and Richie Saunders have been playing basketball together for years, but Saturday may have been their most impressive joint showing as teammates.

The pair of BYU Cougar veterans and former Wasatch Academy standouts each posted career highs in scoring, leading BYU past a pesky Idaho squad 95-71 at the Marriott Center.

“I thought it was good for our guys to go through a game that was closer than what the score indicated,” Cougars head coach Kevin Young said after the contest. “I was happy with our execution down the stretch. I thought we ran some timely offense.

“The thing I like about our group so far is that we’ve proven that it can be a different guy on any given night. I think really good teams have that. I was happy to see that today.”

Traore was a monster in the paint, posting 29 points on 11 of 12 shooting from the field while going a perfect 7 of 7 from the free throw line. The senior from Mali also grabbed nine rebounds and provided two assists.

“I like his ability to get an angle and play one-on-one in the post,” Young said of Traore. “We use him a lot away from the basket as well but obviously today, he had it going down low. Our guys did a good job of finding him on short rolls.”

“It just brings a smile to my face and I love it,” Saunders said of watching his good friend’s dominant outing. “He has the biggest left shoulder in the country and nobody can stop that. I love watching him.”

Saunders — whom Traore playfully calls his “little bro” despite being more than a year Saunders’ junior — scored 26 on the afternoon, adding four rebounds, three assists and continuing his defensive excellence with four steals and three blocks.

“(Richie) is hard to keep off the floor,” Young said. “He’s a guy who creates his own offense, creates his own energy, creates his own defense, which turns into offense for us. Our guys look up to him because of how hard he plays. I thought he was incredible today.”

BYU struggled to contain the Vandals early, leading by just three points at halftime after allowing Idaho to shoot 70% from deep in the first 20 minutes.

While the Cougars still ended up surrendering a 57.1% 3-point clip for the day, Young was encouraged by his team’s defensive improvement in the game’s second half.

“We were over-helping when they were penetrating,” Young said. “They were doing a lot of drive and kick in the first half that was getting us a little out of position to guard their 3s. We had to lock in on that at halftime and I thought we did a much better job against the 3 in the second half. I was also really happy with our defensive execution down the stretch.

“… We have great size on the perimeter but sometimes foot speed can be an issue for us. Missing Dallin (Hall) rears its head even more when we’re on defense. It’s something we have to continue to look at and get better at.”

The Cougars shot a collective 55.9% from the field and 38.9% from behind the arc, but free throws continued to be an issue outside of Traore, as BYU missed on double digit attempts from the charity stripe for the second time in four games.

Egor Demin continued to dazzle, scoring an effortless 16 points with seven assists, three blocks and three steals. Kanon Catchings and Trevin Knell each added eight points apiece, while Keba Keita pitched in down low with eight boards.

Now 4-0 on the young season, the Cougars will enjoy some extended time off before returning to action next Saturday at home against Mississippi Valley State.

And while BYU’s group still has plenty to fine tune and improve, Saunders — who flirted with the transfer portal earlier this year before ultimately coming back to play for Young — seems plenty pleased with his decision to remain in Provo.

“I mean, playing with Fousseyni Traore was a big part of (returning), but I just want to win, so whatever we can do to make that happen, let’s do it,” Saunders said.

“The cool thing about this team is it’s not just one person. Everyone adds value both offensively and defensively. We will continue to get better and better more consistently.”