DENVER (AP) Egor Demin and Richie Saunders led BYU Cougars to an 80-71 victory over VCU Rams in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, giving first-year Cougars coach Kevin Young a better memory of Ball Arena than his last one.

The former Suns assistant watched the Denver Nuggets bounce Phoenix from the playoffs at this arena in 2023, leading Young to say this week that he still has nightmares of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.

“I do have the comfort of the familiarity of being in the building. Even though they hurt us oftentimes, I still had a couple big wins in here,” Young said. “Just the familiarity for me was actually something that was kind of calming and soothing.”

It was Saunders (16 points) and Demin (15) who haunted VCU and propelled the sixth-seeded Cougars (25-9) into a Saturday showdown against third-seeded Wisconsin, which handled Montana 85-66 earlier in the day in the East Region.

Fousseyni Traore added 13 points for the Cougars, who were also a No. 6 seed in last year’s tournament when they were upset by 11th-seeded Duquesne 71-67.

“We’re not ready to be done yet," Saunders said. “It means so much that we were able to win, get to this point that we haven’t done before.”

After last year’s upset, Mark Pope departed for Kentucky and Young replaced him, luring Saunders and Dallin Hall back to Provo after both players entered the transfer portal. Young and his staff also brought in Demin and high-impact transfers Keba Keita (Utah) and Mawot Mag (Rutgers).

As Demin, a potential NBA lottery pick, was talking about the win courtside, BYU fans serenaded him with chants of “One more year!”

Zeb Jackson scored a season-high 23 points for the Rams (28-7), who reached the NCAA Tournament for the third time in five years but still haven't had any March Madness success since 2016.

Max Shulga, Joe Bamisile and Jack Clark all added 12 points for the Rams, who boasted their best record in 13 years and were coming off winning the Atlantic 10 regular season and tournament titles.

A win over Wisconsin would give the Cougars their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2011. The catalyst of that team was sharpshooting Jimmer Fredette, who was seated behind BYU’s bench alongside Danny Ainge.

“Those guys are awesome," Young said. “They love BYU. That’s one thing I think that is super unique about BYU. There’s so much passion from our fans, the alumni. It’s something that I knew about just the fans, but I didn’t factor in just all the alumni. So many good athletes that have been through BYU. Danny is a great resource. I pick his brain often. Jimmer is a guy that reached out the second I got the job. To have that support from those types of guys is incredible.”

VCU coach Ryan Odom noted the foul disparity - BYU was 19 for 28 from the line and VCU just 4 of 6 - but he wasn't doing so to complain about any officiating imbalance but rather to highlight how well the Cougars dominated the paint.

“It’s hard to keep up when you’re in that situation,” Odom said. “Not saying anything about fouls/no fouls. It’s just they impose their will on the game and did a nice job.”

Odom declined to comment when asked if he’s had any conversations about the head coaching vacancies at Virginia and Villanova or whether he’d entertain overtures from those schools:

“I’m happy to answer any questions about the game or this team or anything. I’m not going to answer any questions about that, thank you,” he said.

Demin was officially credited with two assists but he has another just before halftime when Jackson's 3-point attempt bounced over the backboard and nestled up against the shot clock. Demin grabbed the ball boy's mop and poked the ball free.

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