Richie Saunders Sets Up Kanon Catchings For Fastbreak Alley-Oop Slam
Mar 27, 2025, 6:14 PM | Updated: 6:15 pm
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - MARCH 27: Richie Saunders #15 of the Brigham Young Cougars celebrates a basket against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first half in the East Regional Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Prudential Center on March 27, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
NEWARK, N.J. – BYU basketball’s Richie Saunders and Kanon Catchings capped off a 2-on-1 fastbreak in the best way possible against Alabama.
Attacking from the left wing, Saunders threw a lob up to Catchings, who took care of the rest.
THROW. IT. DOWN. pic.twitter.com/rtoJpOD0yf
— BYU Men’s Basketball (@BYUMBB) March 28, 2025
Saunders was easily BYU’s top performer in the first half of the Sweet 16 matchup. He had 12 points, four rebounds, two assists, and three steals while shooting over 70 percent from the floor.
He was the only Cougar to reach double-digit scoring through the first 20 minutes. Keba Keita and Fousseyni Traore were the team’s next leading scorers with eight and seven points, respectively.
The dunk was Catchings’ only points in the first half.
“THROW IT UP, RICHIE!”
-All of Cougar Nation pic.twitter.com/fgK4wDd5bV
— BYU Cougars (@BYUCougars) March 28, 2025
The half came to a close with Alabama leading 51-40.
The difference was three-point shooting. The Cougars made just one of their 13 attempts from deep while the Crimson Tide shot 44 percent on 27 attempts.
BYU Basketball Faces Alabama In March Madness Sweet 16
BYU Basketball is playing in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 14 years, and the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide stands between them and an appearance in the Elite 8.
The Cougars come off of back-to-back close games in the opening rounds at Ball Arena in Denver. They opened their run with an 80-71 victory over the VCU Rams and followed that with a narrow two-point victory over the Wisconsin Badgers to keep the dance alive.
Alabama also won their first-round matchup by just nine points, but they built up their confidence a bit by smacking Saint Mary’s, 80-66, in the Round of 32.
The Crimson Tide are favored going into the matchup, but few teams in college basketball have been playing better than BYU in March.
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The Cougars received a No. 6 seed in the East Region and will continue their “Big Dance” in Newark on Thursday against the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide.
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