DENVER — Only in America, and only during the NCAA Tournament, can you find this kind of a story.

A few weeks ago it was discovered that BYU junior guard Richie Saunders had a famous relative: Ore-Ida Potatoes co-founder F. “Nephi” Griggs, his great-grandfather. Griggs appears to have invented the Tater Tot, the daring man’s option to French fries and Napoleon Dynamite’s favorite treat.

Ore-Ida put out a press release Thursday morning as BYU prepared for its first-round NCAA Tournament game against VCU announcing a NIL deal between the company and Saunders, who they dubbed the “Tater Tot Heir.”

For each game BYU wins in the tournament, Ore-Ida will give away free Tater Tots nationwide. Once the final horn sounds on a Cougar victory, the “Tot Clock” will officially start and runs for 30 minutes, during which fans can click on the Ore-Ida Instagram bio to claim free golden delicious Tater Tots.

During Tuesday’s news conference at Ball Arena, Saunders was asked about his connection to Tater Tots.

“It’s hilarious,” he said. “I don’t know where that came out of. It came out of nowhere. My great grandpa founded Ore-Ida, which founded the Tater Tot. I don’t even know how it got started. We’ve had a lot of laughs just in our house and had a lot of Tater Tots.”

Familiar faces: Former Lone Peak guard Steven Ashworth, who transferred from Utah State to Creighton in 2023, scored 20 points and made four 3-pointers as the No. 9 seed Bluejays claimed an 89-75 first round victory against No. 8 seed Louisville in Lexington, Ky., on Thursday. Former BYU forward Noah Waterman scored eight points for the Cardinals.

Big 12 represents: No. 1 seed Houston had no trouble with No. 16 SIU Edwardsville, running away with a 78-40 first round victory in Wichita, Kan., on Thursday. Milos Uzan led Houston with 16 points on 6 of 7 from the field and the red Cougars held SIUE to 8.3% (2 for 24) from the 3-point line.

Blue in town: The crowd of 19,291 at Ball Arena was decidedly in BYU’s favor for their first-round matchup with VCU.

Those in attendance included former Cougar legends and national player of year winners Danny Ainge and Jimmer Fredette, along with former Cougars Travis Hansen, Gifford Nielsen, Taysom Hill, T.J. Haws and Eric Mika.

Ring up the scoreboard: VCU came into the game with a good defensive reputation. The Rams were No. 1 in the country in defensive field goal efficiency and No. 9 nationally in scoring defense (62.4 per game). BYU became the first team to score at least 80 points against VCU in regulation in 44 games. Saint Louis scored 85 in a 95-85 loss to the Rams on Feb. 16, 2024.

A numbers game: BYU outscored VCU 38-20 in the paint but the Rams had a 27-26 advantage off the bench. Both teams had 17 points off of turnovers. VCU was just 4 of 6 from the foul line while the Cougars were 19 of 28. BYU made just 7 of 20 from the 3-point line