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BYU's Keba Keita rises up for a dunk in a Big 12 men's basketball game against Kansas State at the Marriott Center on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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BYU's Dallin Hall makes a pass against Kansas State in a Big 12 men's basketball game at the Marriott Center on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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BYU wanted to set the tone early against Kansas State on Saturday, and Keba Keita delivered.

The Cougars’ 6-foot-8 rim enforcer had three early blocked shots as BYU defense showed up in a big way. Keita also added a thunderous alley-oop dunk as the Cougars led the Wildcats for all but 1:44 and by as many as 22 points in an emphatic 80-65 victory in front of 17,228 fans at the Marriott Center.

The win came against what was one of the hottest teams in the country basking in the glow of a six-game Big 12 winning streak.

“I feel like we knew the stage that we were walking into,” said Richie Saunders, who turned in his first-ever double-double with 17 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. “They’ve just won six in a row and they’ve been playing really well. I feel like every game has its own life. It was just such a good showing all around, especially on the defensive end, and just the sense of knowing the game plan and executing.”

The Cougars turned in one of their best first half performances in Big 12 play, going on a 17-3 run over a five-minute span to move from a 9-9 tie to a 26-12 lead. BYU got out in transition with five points from Saunders, four from Fousseyni Traore and three from Keita during the run.

BYU led 32-20 with 7:43 to play and finished on an 8-0 burst, Dallin Hall feeding Traore for a dunk with 10 seconds left for a 40-22 halftime lead. The Cougars held Kansas State scoreless for the final 6:26 of the first half.

Saunders and Traore had 10 points each but the biggest impact came from Keita, who had seven points, eight rebounds, three blocks and a steal in ten minutes of play.

“It was awesome, and again, it was defense,” Saunders said. “I felt like we just knew what they were going to do and we worked as a team to stop them. It was a really fun half to play.”

The Wildcats, which finished the half 1 for 12 from the field, shot 9 of 32 (27.3%) in the first half, which included nine straight misses from beyond the arc after making their first three.

Hall lobbed to Keita for a dunk and then swished a 3-pointer as BYU pushed out to its largest lead, 49-27, with 16:07 to play. The Wildcats put some good offensive moments together and closed to within eight, 53-45, on a 3-point play by C.J. Jones with 10:45 to play.

The Cougars found their footing behind the point guard play of Hall and went on a 10-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer off the bench from Trey Stewart, and led 63-47 with eight minutes to go.

Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang did everything he could to prolong the game, utilizing offense-defense substitutions and calling every time out at his disposal despite the large Cougar lead.

“I want to give all the credit to the BYU staff and their players,” Tang said. “They kicked our butts tonight. They were a better team, they were the more physical team, they were more assertive team. They were just all around better than we were tonight, and they get all the credit for that win.”

BYU head coach Kevin Young: “We set the tone really well with our defensive execution coming out. To start the first half, we did some really good things against a team that can be challenging to guard, given their different pick and roll combinations. And then in the second half, Dallin, and really put us on his shoulders. A couple other things I wanted to mention, was just kind of the three-headed monster at the five. I thought all three of our five men (Keita, Traore and Mihailo Boskovic) played really well in their respective roles. And then Richie, I think someone told me that was his first double-double, which actually surprises me.”

Hall scored 14 of his season-high 16 points in the second half and Traore finished with 11 points. Keita had nine points, 11 rebounds, five blocks and a steal in just 18 minutes of play. The Cougars won the rebound battle (41-31), scored 40 points in the paint and led in bench scoring 41-13.

Dug McDaniel paced Kansas State (13-12 overall, 7-7 Big 12) with 22 points, his second straight game of 20 or more points.

BYU honored former Cougar Jake Shoff at halftime. Shoff died in a car accident last week.

“I want to acknowledge the Shoff family,” Young said in the post-game news conference. “I think everyone is aware of the tragedy that happened with Jake. I think he had close to 50 family members at the game tonight and we really wanted to get the win for their family. We had a bunch of them in the locker room after the game, which was pretty neat. So prayers to their family and we’re just just glad that we could do a small part to hopefully honor him and show them a little bit of support during this time.”

BYU (17-8, 8-6) remains at the Marriott Center on Tuesday for a showdown with No. 17 Kansas. The Jayhawks lost at Utah on Saturday 74-67 to fall to 17-8 overall and 8-6 in Big 12 play.