Three BYU Basketball Players Unavailable For Game Against Saint Mary’s
Jan 28, 2023, 7:21 PM | Updated: Jan 30, 2023, 1:12 pm
PROVO, Utah – BYU basketball will be short-handed tonight against No. 22 Saint Mary’s as the team announced that Jaxson Robinson, Noah Waterman, and Atiki Ally Atiki are being held out due to a violation of team rules.
Freshman Richie Saunders will get his second career start in place of Robinson.
Robinson had started the previous 23 games for the Cougars after transferring in from Arkansas in the offseason.
BREAKING: #BYU 🏀 has suspended Noah Waterman, Jaxson Robinson, and Atiki Ally Atiki for a violation of team rules.
Richie Saunders moves into the starting lineup for the game against Saint Mary’s.
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) January 29, 2023
He’s averaging 8.5 points per game while shooting 35 percent from the three point line.
Losing Noah Waterman and Atiki Ally Atiki poses a massive size issue for the Cougars against the Gaels.
They are the two tallest players on the team.
Tough for #BYU 🏀 to be without Jaxson Robinson, Noah Waterman, and Atiki Ally Atiki who violated team rules.
Big opportunity for Richie Saunders and Trey Stewart to play bigger roles. #BYUHoops
— Matthew Baiamonte (@baiamontematt) January 29, 2023
Expected to play more minutes against Saint Mary’s will be Saunders and Trey Stewart.
Unfortunately for head coach Mark Pope, there aren’t a lot of options on the Cougar bench.
Trevin Knell and Tanner Toolson remain unavailable due to injury.
It’s a tough blow for a basketball team in a rough patch after losing two consecutive matches on the road last week.
However, Rudi Williams has been playing some of his best basketball of the season after scoring over 20 points in each of his last two games.
He’ll be needed to carry the scoring load once if the Cougars have a chance to beat Saint Mary’s.
It’s likely to see him in isolation situations offensively.
He successes in those situations in losses against San Francisco and Santa Clara.
The game can be watched on ESPN2 and heard on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM.
You can hear Matt Baiamonte every Saturday on KSL Newsradio for Cougar Sports Saturday from 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. or you can find him on Twitter here.
