No. 11 BYU puts its 13-game winning streak on the line Saturday night when it travels to Lubbock, Texas, to take on the No. 15 Texas Tech Red Raiders.
LUBBOCK, Texas — Despite having played arguably the most difficult nonconference schedule in program history, the No. 11 BYU Cougars are seen in some circles as never really having been tested since a game against No. 3 UConn in Boston back in November.
Coach Kevin Young’s Cougars dropped that supposed neutral-court clash 86-84 after a spirited second-half comeback, but has been favored to win every game since then, and has done just that.
However, the narrative that BYU (16-1, 4-0) has not faced a really significant challenge in months changes on Saturday, as the streaking Cougars face off against No. 15 Texas Tech (13-4, 3-1) at 6 p.m. MST at 15,000-seat United Supermarkets Arena.
Visiting BYU puts its 13-game winning streak and 12-game Big 12 regular-season winning streak on the line against one of only two teams it has never defeated in the Big 12. Texas Tech is 3-0 against the Cougars since they joined the league in 2023, with a win in Lubbock in 2024, a win at the Big 12 tournament in 2024, and a win in Provo last year, 72-67.
“I’m excited to get to Lubbock. I have never played a game there,” Young said after the Cougars held off TCU 76-70 late Wednesday night at the Marriott Center. “Still mad that they beat us here last year. Have a lot of respect for their coach and their staff. I think they do a really good job, and it’ll be a fun college basketball atmosphere.”
The scene will be eerily similar to the BYU football team’s visit to nearby Jones AT&T Stadium a few months ago, when two nationally ranked teams clashed in what was billed as the biggest game of the day in college football. Saturday’s matchup is similar, will be televised nationally by ESPN, and features plenty of star power: BYU’s “Big 3” of Richie Saunders, Rob Wright and AJ Dybantsa against Texas Tech’s “Dynamic Duo” of JT Toppin and Christian Anderson.
“Some of the funnest games you play in are when you can’t even hear yourself think. I’m excited to go there and go get a win.”
BYU's Richie Saunders on playing at Texas Tech Saturday
Toppin almost had a triple-double in Tech’s 88-74 win over Utah on Wednesday, finishing with 31 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and five blocks. Anderson had 26 points and 10 assists.
Toppin averages 21.3 points and 11.1 rebounds per game, while Anderson averages 19.7 points and 7.5 assists and shoots 43.1% from the 3-point line.
Throw in the fact that Texas Tech sports are pretty much the only game in town, and a wild and crazy atmosphere awaits the Cougars. Last Saturday’s rivalry game against Utah at the Huntsman Center was electric, intense and somewhat hostile, but there were almost as many BYU fans as Utah fans in the 15,000-seat home of the Utes.
That won’t be the case in the Hub City; of all the away venues the BYU football team has visited the past few years, there were fewer BYU fans in Lubbock last Nov. 8 than anywhere else. The atmosphere will be similar to those days when BYU was in the Mountain West Conference and played in The Pit at New Mexico — with very little blue in the building.
In 2024, when BYU fell 85-78 to then-No. 25 Texas Tech in Lubbock under coach Mark Pope, the only Cougar on the roster that is on BYU’s roster now was Saunders, a 6-foot-5 guard. The Riverton, Utah, product was 6 of 9 for 16 points and BYU blew a 48-32 halftime lead by giving up 53 points to Pop Isaacs and company in the second half.
“It will be a great (challenge), and another opportunity to grow, an opportunity to work towards our end goal,” Saunders said after scoring 18 points against TCU. “I love playing there. I think it’s a fun atmosphere, and they do a great job of packing that place.
“Some of the funnest games you play in are when you can’t even hear yourself think,” Saunders continued. “I’m excited to go there and go get a win.”
It will be BYU’s first Quad 1 road opportunity, as the Cougars’ four Quad 1 wins in 2025 came at neutral sites.
“We just want to continue to get better and push the limits of what I think people think is possible at BYU,” Young said.
A win in Lubbock would certainly qualify. Kenpom gives BYU a 48% chance of winning. The Red Raiders are No. 19 in the NET rankings, while BYU is No. 8.
The Cougars almost certainly will jump back into the top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25 poll with a win. It is a monumental task, considering the Red Raiders reloaded as well as any team in the league after losing first-team All-Big 12 performer Darrion Williams to North Carolina State.
Williams scored 18 points in Tech’s 72-67 win in Provo last year, while the aforementioned Anderson netted just two off the bench on 1-of-7 shooting.
Obviously, Anderson has improved as much as any player in the country. He had 27 points in Tech’s big 82-81 win over then-No. 3 Duke at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
“I have a lot of respect for their coaches, in terms of how they recruit, how they play. I think they are a team that values shooting, similar to us,” Young said. “They space the floor out really well. So it will be a good test for our defense, especially in a hostile environment.
“They have got Toppin, who is obviously a load,” Young continued. “Christian Anderson is having one of the best seasons out of any guard in the country. So it will be a good test.”
One of the best tests of the year for the Cougars.
Category: General Sports
