BYU’s Richie Saunders, Egor Demin Receive Big 12 Honors
BYU Basketball, Richie Saunders, Egor Demin, Big 12 Honors…
PROVO, Utah – Richie Saunders and Egor Demin of BYU were honored with awards from the Big 12 Conference on Monday.
Saunders was named the Most Improved Player for the 2024-25 season and earned a spot as one of the 10 players selected for the First Team All-Big 12.
Demin made the Big 12 All-Freshman Team and also received Honorable Mention recognition from the prestigious league.
“I want to congratulate Richie Saunders for making First Team All-Big 12 and being named Most Improved Player, as well as Egor (Demin) for earning Honorable Mention and first-team Freshman honors in the Big 12,” said BYU head coach Kevin Young. “I feel like there were other players deserving of recognition, but I’m happy for these two.”
Richie Saunders: First Team All-Big 12, Most Improved Player
Saunders finished the 20-game Big 12 season ranked fourth in scoring with 17.9 points per game, first in 3-point shooting at 45.1%, and fifth in field goal percentage at 52.4%.
Last season, Saunders was considered a “glue guy” off the bench, but under first-year head coach Kevin Young, he developed into one of the top performers in the Big 12 Conference this year.
Saunders had 10 games this season with 20 or more points, with eight of those games coming against Big 12 opponents.
The 6-foot-5 junior from Riverton, Utah, made a strong case for Big 12 Player of the Year, although the award went to Texas Tech’s JT Toppin.
Toppin, a transfer from the University of New Mexico, was among the top three in the Big 12 in scoring, rebounds, and field goal percentage this season.
Egor Demin: Big 12 Honorable Mention
Egor Demin, the highly-touted freshman from Moscow, Russia, finished fourth in the Big 12 for assists, averaging 5.5 per game.
“These are definitely team accomplishments too. Individual success requires a lot of team effort, and our players recognize that,” said Young. “I’m glad for these two young men to represent our university and earn these honors.”
BYU is now focused on the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City. The team will head to Kansas City on Tuesday in preparation for a quarterfinal matchup against Iowa State, Cincinnati, or Oklahoma State on Thursday.
