DENVER — On the eve of the program’s most important game since 2011, BYU basketball players on Friday laughed at and joked with each other, while others in their locker room at Ball Arena playfully played media member for a bit and interviewed one another and still others drew goofy pictures on a whiteboard.
Meanwhile, at the dais in the traditional news conference held in between first- and second-round games, guards Trey Stewart and Dawson Baker said they celebrated the 80-71 win over VCU in an NCAA Tournament first-round game by heading to the swimming pool and hot tub at their hotel “with some of the (BYU) band,” according to Baker, who said the “conversation was great” and they learned that the band planned to go to the Denver Zoo on Friday.
“There’s a zoo?” asked Stewart, drawing laughter.
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The exchange was a good indication of how loose and relaxed the Cougars (25-9) appear to be heading into Saturday’s 5:45 p.m. MDT Round of 32 game with third-seeded Wisconsin Badgers (27-9) in the tournament’s East Region.
The winner moves on to a Sweet 16 matchup in Newark, New Jersey, against the Alabama-Saint Mary’s winner.
From left, BYU Cougars guards Dallin Hall, Dawson Baker, and Trey Stewart laugh as they field questions from reporters during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
Wisconsin Badgers forward Carter Gilmore answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
Wisconsin Badgers forward Nolan Winter answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
Wisconsin Badgers forward Nolan Winter answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
From left, Wisconsin Badgers forward Nolan Winter, guard John Blackwell, and forward Carter Gilmore field questions from reporters as Blackwell speaks during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
Wisconsin Badgers guard John Blackwell answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
Wisconsin Badgers guard John Blackwell answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
Wisconsin Badgers forward Carter Gilmore answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
From left, BYU Cougars guards Dallin Hall, Dawson Baker, and Trey Stewart field questions from reporters as Baker speaks during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
BYU Cougars forward Kanon Catchings answers a question from a reporter during media availability in the Cougars’ locker room at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
BYU Cougars forward Mihailo Boskovic answers a question from a reporter during media availability in the Cougars’ locker room at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
BYU Cougars guard Dallin Hall answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
BYU Cougars guard Trey Stewart answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
BYU Cougars guard Dawson Baker answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
BYU Cougars guard Dawson Baker laughs as guard Trey Stewart answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
BYU Cougars guard Dallin Hall answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
BYU Cougars head coach Kevin Young answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
BYU Cougars head coach Kevin Young answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
BYU Cougars head coach Kevin Young answers a question from a reporter during a press conference held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
BYU Cougars forward Mihailo Boskovic answers a question from a reporter during media availability in the Cougars’ locker room at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
BYU Cougars guard Trevin Knell answers a question from a reporter during media availability in the Cougars’ locker room at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
BYU Cougars forward Kanon Catchings answers a question from a reporter during media availability in the Cougars’ locker room at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Friday, March 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
It was like the weight of the world was lifted off their shoulders, star forward, “Tater Tot King” and amateur artist Richie Saunders said of getting the Big Dance breakthrough that came with BYU’s first NCAA Tournament win since 2012.
On a more serious note, fellow guard Dallin Hall said the Cougars “had a good dinner with the team” Thursday night, then spent some time with their families who attended the historic breakthrough and quickly turned their attention to the Badgers, who went 13-7 in the Big Ten before losing to Michigan in the conference championship game.
Wisconsin advanced Thursday by walloping Montana 85-66.
“We all told each other, like, this is great, but we have more work to do here,” Hall said, “so we quickly flipped the page, and we understood there is more for us to do in this tournament. Everyone has been pretty focused on Wisconsin since last night.”
Wisconsin’s news conference was far more businesslike, with guard John Blackwell and forwards Carter Gilmore and Nolan Winter saying the Badgers “chilled out” after winning on Thursday and mostly watched the other tournament games.
BYU is “a very tough team, well-coached,” Winter said. “They shoot the 3 at a very high level. It’s going to be a point of emphasis tomorrow to limit those.”
Later, when asked which Big Ten team BYU most plays like, Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said, “Ourselves, for one.”
Then Gard said he watched a few BYU games during the season because of the time zone difference and suggested Kevin Young’s team plays like Illinois, which also shoots a lot of 3s and has a lanky freshman point guard in 6-foot-6 Kasparas Jakucionis, who is “very similar to Denim (sic). I think BYU may even have more shooters than Illinois.”
BYUs Egor Demin had one of his best games of the season against VCU, scoring 15 points.
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When it was suggested that BYU players seemed to be striking the right balance between lightheartedness and dialed in, Young said it is due to the group’s maturity and experience.
“I think our group does a good job of just balancing being serious-minded but not to the point where they get too tight,” Young said. “A lot of these guys have been here before. It is a balancing act, for sure, but I think it is important to not take things too seriously.”
In essence, BYU hasn’t been in this exact situation — a Round of 32 game — since 2011 when Dave Rose was the coach and Jimmer Fredette led the Cougars out of this very same arena in Denver (it was called the Pepsi Center back then) and to New Orleans with a 34-point performance in an 89-67 win over 11th-seeded Gonzaga.
BYU hasn’t defeated a single-digit seed in the tournament since Shawn Bradley led the 10th-seeded Cougars to a 61-48 win over seventh-seeded Virginia in 1991.
Saturday’s game against a well-known brand is one of those kind of games in which BYU has stumbled in the past, for whatever reason. The moment often proved to be too big for the program that competed in the WCC and, before that, the Mountain West.
What’s different about this group?
“I mean, you give (Wisconsin) their flowers, their respect as a program,” Stewart said. “But at the end of the day, it is just a basketball game. … One of the biggest things that bugged us when we were going into the Big 12 was we were asked how we would do against Kansas.
“We went and smacked them at their place,” he continued. “At the end of the day, we go with our brand of basketball. I’m definitely grateful that we get to play such high-level programs, but we are not going to put them on a pedestal. We’re going to play them like just another opponent.”
NCAA Tournament Round of 32
No. 6 seed BYU (25-9) vs. No. 3 seed Wisconsin (27-9)
- Saturday, 5:45 p.m. MDT
- At Ball Arena
- TV: CBS
- Radio: BYU Radio 107.9 FM / BYURadio.org / BYU Radio app
In the locker room Friday, as Saunders was drawing a hot air balloon on the whiteboard, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, freshman wing Kanon Catchings said growing up in Indiana taught him that “any team in the Big Ten is a tough team” but that the Cougars won’t be in awe of the Badgers.
“I feel like if we meet the moment … and just come out ready to play and play our style of basketball, we will win the game,” said Catchings, who noted that he hasn’t decided yet whether he will enter the NBA draft, return to BYU or enter the transfer portal when the season does end.
Truly, while the BYU-VCU matchup was one of contrasting styles, the BYU-Wisconsin matchup pits teams who play similarly. The Cougars average 80.9 points per game, while Wisky averages 79.9.
Wisconsin is a 1.5-point favorite, despite being 3 seeds higher and having a 15 NET ranking; BYU’s NET ranking is 25.
The score will “probably be 50 to 48, one of those,” Gard said, in jest.
Said Young, regarding the similar styles: “I would imagine it would probably be a high-scoring game. Obviously we don’t want it to be. We’re locked in defensively on how we want to guard these guys, but they are impressive offensively. We’ve had some nights where we have been able to score as well. That’s where it is probably headed.”
