BYU transfer Richie Saunders visiting Kentucky

Mark Pope has been a busy man since becoming the Kentucky Wildcats’ head coach, and he’s shown no sign of slowing down.

Over the last week, Pope has flown across the country to meet with various prospects while also returning to host Amari Williams for a visit this weekend, which led to a commitment from the Drexel center. Pope also scored a commitment from former BYU Cougars signee Collin Chandler.

Now, we have another reported visitor, and it’s one of Pope’s former players.

Per KSR’s Matt Jones, BYU guard Richie Saunders is set to visit Kentucky on Sunday and Monday. Saunders will have two years of eligibility remaining at his next school.

A class of 2020 recruit, Saunders served a two-year Mormon mission before joining the Cougars in 2022. In his debut season, the 6-foot-5 native of Utah averaged 5.5 points on 45.3% shooting (33.3% from deep), 2.4 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in 15.9 minutes per game.

This past season, Saunders went for 9.6 points on 52.3% shooting (36.4% from deep), 4.1 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 20.7 minutes per game. His highlight of the season was 20 points on 7/12 shooting (3/6 from deep) in a 68-63 defeat at Iowa State. He came off the bench in both seasons.

Kentucky has yet to land a BYU transfer after Aly Khalifa went to Louisville, while Dallin Hall is not considering the Wildcats. You’d think Pope will manage to bring at least one of his former players to Lexington, so perhaps that will be Saunders.

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