Saunders leads No. 25 BYU against West Virginia after 26-point performance

West Virginia Mountaineers (17-11, 9-9 Big 12) at BYU Cougars (20-8, 11-6 Big 12)

Provo, Utah; Saturday, 10 p.m. EST

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Cougars -9.5; over/under is 139.5

BOTTOM LINE: No. 25 BYU hosts West Virginia after Richie Saunders scored 26 points in BYU’s 91-81 win against the Arizona State Sun Devils.

The Cougars have gone 13-2 at home. BYU is ninth in college basketball with 17.4 assists per game led by Egor Demin averaging 5.8.

The Mountaineers have gone 9-9 against Big 12 opponents. West Virginia is ninth in the Big 12 with 22.6 defensive rebounds per game led by Amani Hansberry averaging 4.3.

BYU scores 81.1 points, 17.0 more per game than the 64.1 West Virginia allows. West Virginia has shot at a 42.8% clip from the field this season, 0.5 percentage points fewer than the 43.3% shooting opponents of BYU have averaged.

TOP PERFORMERS: Demin is averaging 10.6 points and 5.8 assists for the Cougars. Saunders is averaging 18.3 points over the last 10 games.

Javon Small is scoring 18.4 points per game and averaging 4.2 rebounds for the Mountaineers. Hansberry is averaging 9.6 points and 7.7 rebounds over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cougars: 8-2, averaging 82.5 points, 29.1 rebounds, 17.9 assists, 6.8 steals and 2.3 blocks per game while shooting 50.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 75.2 points per game.

Mountaineers: 4-6, averaging 63.0 points, 28.3 rebounds, 14.7 assists, 7.0 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 43.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.6 points.