Richie Saunders takes a hard fall 45 seconds into the game and is helped back into the locker room. He gave the fans a thumbs up on his way out but still a really scary scene for BYU pic.twitter.com/O2XcRXThHt
— Jackson Payne (@jackson5payne) February 14, 2026
Colorado
No. 22 BYU survives upstart Colorado in overtime
Saturday was set up to be one of the top highlights of BYU’s season.
Instead, the Cougars’ 90-86 overtime victory against Colorado will ultimately be remembered for its most gut-wrenching moment.
BYU was heavily favored against the visiting Buffaloes, its lowest-rated remaining opponent of the regular season. Additionally, Jimmer Fredette would have his No. 32 jersey retired at halftime, with the sold out Marriott Center crowd all donning replica Fredette jerseys of their own and creating an electric, deafening environment prior to tipoff.
But less than a minute into the contest, disaster struck.
BYU star Richie Saunders, attempting a jump pass as he soared out of bounds, planted his right foot awkwardly upon landing and took a hard fall, immediately clutching his right knee as he lay in pain.
Saunders remained on the ground for a while before being helped up, needing assistance for the beginning of his walk back to the locker room before eventually walking out under his own power.
Though he did give a double thumbs up to fans as he left the floor, Saunders never returned to the BYU bench, let alone the game, with his wife and parents being summoned back into the locker room to see him.
“I think it sucked the life out the gym, if I’m being honest,” BYU head coach Kevin Young said of Saunders’ injury, adding that he did not have an update regarding the senior star’s status moving forward.
“You never want to see an injury to any player, but definitely not to someone who’s the heart and soul of our team and bleeds BYU blue.”
Losing Saunders so early in the game clearly affected the Cougars, who could never pull away from Colorado and squandered a late lead to go to overtime.
“He’s our hardest worker, super talented player, so I mean, hopefully we get him back,” Rob Wright III said of Saunders.
“… Having a guy like Richie out, I mean, it obviously hurt us. The game might have been closer than it should have been, but it was just good to pull through, and it’s next man up.”
Thanks to a career night from Wright, a near triple-double from AJ Dybantsa and some timely contributions from its bench, BYU was able to withstand the loss of Saunders and dig out a tough victory, moving to 19-6 on the season and 7-5 in Big 12 play.
“Glad we got the win, bottom line,“ Young said. ”You know, the Big 12’s a tough league. You see it across the landscape, not just in our league, but every league, it’s hard to win, bottom line.
“We had a lot working against us tonight. Proud of our guys for stepping up. We had some guys coming off the bench and make huge plays.”
Those bench heroes for the Cougars included Tyler Mrus, who was the initial post-injury sub for Saunders and scored six first half points, and Aleksej Kostic, whose 3-pointer with 1:21 left to play in overtime gave BYU a lead it would never surrender.
“You’ve got to find a way to come in and channel that emotion. I thought Tyler did a great job of coming in and making a couple shots, and then obviously (Kostic) hit the huge one there at the end,” Young said.
“It’s a team game, and guys got to come in off the bench and be ready to go, which we haven’t done a lot this year because (Saunders, Wright and Dybantsa) have been so good. But I was proud of those guys to come in ready to contribute to the win.”
Fresh off a career-high 30 points in his return to Baylor earlier this week, Wright quickly posted a new personal best with 39 points Saturday, doing so on 12 of 16 shooting — with four made 3-pointers — while adding five rebounds and four assists.
“I didn’t even know he had that many points, to be honest with you. I looked down after the game and was like, ‘Holy cow.’ He’s playing the game right now at an incredible pace in terms of his control,” Young said of Wright.
“… I think the last couple games he’s done a fantastic job of getting to the paint, playing under control, playing off two feet. … He’s shooting the ball at a very high clip in catch and shoot situations, and that’s really helped his efficiency and helped him be a real scoring threat for us.”
With Saunders’ injury freeing up Colorado to put more men on Dybantsa, Wright pivoted from his typical point guard duties to play off the ball for much of the game, leveraging Dybantsa’s double teams for 29 points after halftime.
“It just felt good to get the win,” Wright said. “I mean, they were doubling AJ, so I was just playing off him, making shots early and just got rolling.
“When Richie went down, we knew somebody had to step up, so I guess it was me today.”
Amid the thick defensive coverage, Dybantsa accounted for seven of BYU’s 16 total turnovers and shot 6 of 20 from the field, but the freshman phenom still managed to provide 20 points, a career-high 13 rebounds and eight assists.
“My dad, he tells me I don’t rebound a lot, so I came in here and just, you know, wanted to prove to him that I can rebound,” Dybantsa said.
“But also, like, (my) shots weren’t falling, so I was trying to make sure that if the other team misses a shot, that they don’t get any second-chance opportunities.”
Added Young: “At (Dybantsa’s) size, to be able to have eight assists I think says a lot about his growth, you know, in terms of playing a little bit more under control. We’ve got to clean those turnovers up.”
It was a dogfight for much of the day, with BYU and Colorado knotted at 60 points apiece with just over nine minutes left to play in the second half.
The Cougars then put together a 11-4 run over the following four minutes to lead by seven, only to miss four of their next six field goal attempts as the Buffaloes made five of their next eight and forced overtime thanks to an Isaiah Johnson layup with 18 seconds remaining.
In overtime, however, BYU stood its ground and held Colorado to 2 of 10 shooting, with Dybantsa and Wright sinking five free throws after Kostic’s clutch triple to finally bury the Buffs.
“(We) got a little too comfortable. You know, we’re trying to get our defense right,” Young said. “… I’ll say it again, I fully expected this game to be very difficult. … You knew (Colorado) was going to be ready to come in and fight, and that’s a good lesson for our guys.
“I’m just happy that our guys were able to pull a win out. Games like those can be very challenging, especially given what happened early in the game emotionally and so forth. I’m saying all that to say that was kind of the message in the in the timeout (before overtime), like, ‘Man, let’s let’s find a way to go out and get this thing done,’ and thankfully, we did.”
While BYU made 50% of its 3-pointers, the Cougars were inconsistent inside the arc to shoot 45% on 2-point shots, missing six layups and gifting the Buffs 21 points from 16 turnovers.
Conversely, Colorado shot 44% from the field and 28.1% from long distance, with BYU winning the rebound battle by a 46-39 margin.
Now winners of two straight, the Cougars will head down to Tucson for a rematch with Arizona at the McKale Center next Wednesday, with the Wildcats currently ranked No. 1 nationally but riding a 2-game losing skid, including Saturday night to No. 16 Texas Tech.
“I think we should have won the one at home. Losing by (three) really hurt us,” Dybantsa said of BYU’s first meeting with Arizona, a 86-83 loss.
“(There were) some defensive lapses that we shouldn’t have had, so I mean, we’re coming in ready. We’re going to have the scouting report ready, we’re going to trust the staff and go get a win in McKale.”
But whether Saunders is on the floor for such an effort — let alone the rest of the season — remains to be seen.
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Colorado
Colorado faces LA in first round as Kings captain Anze Kopitar embarks on final Stanley Cup chase
DENVER — Anze Kopitar wrapped up the last regular season of his storied career. The Los Angeles Kings captain wants to prolong his final playoff run for as long as possible.
Kopitar, who announced in September his plans to retire, instantly becomes a postseason rallying point for the Kings. They have a tall task ahead of them against the Colorado Avalanche, the top team in the league, with the top goal scorer in Nathan MacKinnon and one of the best defensemen in the game in Cale Makar. Game 1 is Sunday at Ball Arena, where the Avalanche are 26-9-6.
“Playoffs,” said the 38-year-old Kopitar, a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Kings. “I’m not going to say anything can happen, but we’ll go in and we’ll play hard and we’ll see where that takes us.”
This will be the third postseason series between the two teams and the first in 24 years. Colorado won in seven games during both the 2002 conference quarterfinals and the 2001 conference semifinals.
It’s been a record season for the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Avalanche as they amassed the most points (121) in franchise history. That broke the mark set by the 2022 team, which went on to win the Stanley Cup title. MacKinnon had a career-best 53 goals.
Goaltenders Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood shared the net this season and surrendered a league low in goals. They earned the William M. Jennings Trophy, which is presented to the goalies who have played a minimum of 25 games — Wedgewood suited up in 45 and Blackwood 39 — for the team with the fewest goals allowed. The other goaltender to win that honor for Colorado was Hall of Famer Patrick Roy (2001-02).
“We’re in a good spot,” Colorado forward Brock Nelson said. “The mentality of this group throughout the year, right from the start of training camp, (was) set on a mission to be the best team.”
Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon (29) celebrates the goal against Edmonton Oilers goalie Connor Ingram (39) during shoot-out NHL action, in Edmonton on Monday, April 13, 2026. Credit: AP/JASON FRANSON
Record against each other
The Kings went 0-3 against Colorado this season and were outscored by a 13-5 margin.
“You hear the hype. They have good players,” Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke said. “We’re a scrappy team. We keep it close with everybody. That can really frustrate them.”
Leading after two
The Avalanche were 41-0-0 when leading after two periods. They’re the first squad to have a lead after two periods on 40 or more instances and capture each one, according to team research.
“Even though we’ve been smart, we’ve been committed, we’ve been relentless at times, it’s going to have to go to a whole new level now,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “I have faith in our guys.”
Los Angeles Kings’ Anze Kopitar, who is retiring after this season, acknowledges the crowd after being recognized after losing to the Vancouver Canucks during overtime NHL hockey action in Vancouver, on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. Credit: AP/DARRYL DYCK
Remember the season opener?
Six grueling months ago, the Avalanche and Kings opened the season against each other. The Avalanche won 4-1 in Los Angeles behind a pair of goals from Martin Necas, who would go on to register his first 100-point season (38 goals, 62 assists).
The two teams join an exclusive club by becoming the fifth pair since 2015-16 to open the regular season and the playoffs against each other, according to NHL Stats. The other pairs to do so were Montreal and Toronto (2020-21); Colorado and St. Louis (2020-21); St. Louis and Winnipeg (2018-19); and Los Angeles and San Jose (2015-16).
Of those teams that won the season opener only San Jose went on to win the series. It’s a trend Kopitar and the Kings wouldn’t mind joining.
Kopitar and the playoffs
Kopitar helped the Kings to the Stanley Cup title in 2011-12 and 2013-14 along with goaltender Jonathan Quick, who now is with the New York Rangers and recently said he’s retiring. Kopitar has played in 103 postseason games with 27 goals and 62 assists.
“The intensity ramps up, everything ramps up,” Kopitar said of the postseason. “Every mistake, every little play, magnifies now.”
Familiar faces
Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper was in net for the Avalanche when they won the Stanley Cup in 2022. In addition, Kuemper and Drew Doughty were teammates with MacKinnon, Makar and Devon Toews when Canada won silver at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Colorado
U.S. Women’s National Team Closes Three-Game Series Against Japan With Emphatic 3-0 Victory in Colorado
COMMERCE CITY, COLO. (April 17, 2026) – Naomi Girma, Rose Lavelle and Kennedy Wesley scored second-half goals to lead the U.S. Women’s National Team to a 3-0 victory over Japan in the third and final match of the series between the two sides.
Wesley recorded her first international goal and assist in her sixth cap to become the 27th player to score under U.S. head coach Emma Hayes. Girma scored her third international goal and Lavelle scored her 29th, marking her 10th goal contribution in her last 10 appearances.
Precision in the final third had been a key point of emphasis for Hayes heading into the match, and even though the USA did not score before the break, it showed flashes of what was to come in the second half, dominating 70% of possession and firing nine shots. The USWNT then broke through with three goals in the first 20 minutes of the second half to record its largest victory over Japan since 2017.
For the first time in this three-game series, the match went into halftime scoreless, but the Americans came close on several occasions. Off one of the USA’s four first half corner kicks, the most dangerous look came in the 21st minute from a Lavelle service that was headed around the box before defender Tierna Davidson nodded the ball down to Sophia Wilson, who had her back to goal. The forward chested down the ball and smashed a turnaround half-volley that forced a point blank save from Japanese goalkeeper Chika Hirao. Girma leaped up to get her head on the rebound, but her shot went over the crossbar.
In the 39th minute, Lavelle received the ball just past half field and played a long switch over to Alyssa Thompson on the left side. The forward beat her defender before playing a pass centrally to midfielder Claire Hutton at the top of the box. Her first-time shot from just outside the penalty box clanged off the crossbar and out for a goal kick. In one of the final plays before the half, forward Trinity Rodman cut inside the box and sent a cross in that deflected off defender Toko Koga, nearly causing an own goal before Hirao collected the ball.
As it did in the first match of the series, the USA came out hot to start the second half and scored almost immediately. On April 11, the USA scored 141 seconds into the half and tonight the goal came 155 seconds after the half began. The USA earned a corner kick after Wilson blasted a shot from outside the box that forced another leaping save from Hirao. Lavelle sent in service from the right corner that drifted towards Wesley at the back post. Wesley headed the cross back in front of goal for Girma, who redirected the ball with a powerful header into the back of the net. The goal was a combination of two center backs and former Stanford University teammates for Girma’s first goal since October of 2024.
Less than 10 minutes later, Wesley started the counterattack that led to the second goal. The defender picked off a pass in the USA’s defensive third and played captain Lindsey Heaps in the midfield. Heaps passed the ball forward to Rodman, who nutmegged her defender with a long pass, splitting two more Japanese players to send Lavelle in on a breakaway. Lavelle dribbled to the top of 18-yard box and then slotted a low shot into the bottom left corner with class to double the lead.
The squad kept the momentum rolling following substitutions just after the hour mark. A few minutes after entering the match, midfielder Jaedyn Shaw stepped up to take the USA’s sixth corner kick of the match. She sent a cross to the center of the box where Wesley leaped to hit a shot with the outside of her right foot, redirecting the ball through traffic and into the left side goal for the third of the night and the first of her USWNT career.
The USA held Japan scoreless for the first time in the series with goalkeeper Claudia Dickey making three saves to earn her eighth clean sheet in her 10th appearance.
Goal Scoring Rundown:
USA –NAOMI GIRMA (KENNEDY WESLEY),47th minute: Rose Lavelle lofted a corner kick from the right to the back post to Kennedy Wesley, who drifted under the ball and headed it back in front of the face of goal. Naomi Girma was in perfect position to redirect the cross with a forceful header into the back of the net at the center of the six-yard box. USA 1, JPN 0
USA – ROSE LAVELLE (TRINITY RODMAN), 56th minute: Kennedy Wesley intercepted a pass in the USA’s defensive third and played Lindsey Heaps near the center circle. Heaps played the ball forward to Trinity Rodman, who split two defenders with a pass up the field as Lavelle made a run inside. Lavelle dribbled toward the 18-yard box before slotting her shot to the bottom left corner of the goal. USA 2, JPN 0
USA – KENNEDY WESLEY (JAEDYN SHAW), 63rd minute: Jaedyn Shaw sent a corner kick toward the center of the box. Around eight yards out, Kennedy Wesley connected with the cross using the outside of her right foot, sending her shot through traffic into the back of the net. USA 3, JPN 0 FINAL
Additional Notes:
- Emma Hayes made 10 changes to the Starting XI from the last match against Japan on April 14 with Claire Hutton as the only player to start two games in a row. However, this Starting XI had only two changes from the Starting XI on April 11 in the first game against Japan. From the first match, Tierna Davidson replaced Kennedy Wesley on the back line and Hutton stepped in for midfielder Sam Coffey.
- With her cap today, Colorado native Lindsey Heaps tied Shannon MacMillan for 18th most caps in USWNT history with 176, making her one of only 19 women to reach the milestone. Heaps will return to her hometown to play professionally as a member of the NWSL’s Denver Summit upon the completion of her contract with OL Lyonnes in July.
- The other starter from Colorado was forward Sophia Wilson. The last time Wilson and Heaps played in Colorado was on June 1, 2024, vs. Korea Republic. The U.S. also won that match 4-0, which was also Hayes’ first match as head coach of the USWNT and the fourth-to-last match before of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Wilson hails from Windsor just an hour from Commerce City and Denver proper while Golden, a suburb of Denver, is Heaps’ hometown.
- Davidson earned the start, her first since Feb. 23, 2025, in a 2-1 win over Australia. In the WNT’s previous match on April 14, Davidson entered as a substitute in the 65th minute, her first appearance in more than one year following her recovery from an ACL injury she suffered in March of 2025. Tonight, she played the first 45 minutes before coming out on pre-planned sub.
- Center back Naomi Girma scored her third international goal – and all three have been headers. She scored her first two international goals on Oct. 30, 2024, against Argentina.
- Girma was assisted on her goal by fellow center back and Stanford Cardinal Kennedy Wesley, who replaced Davidson at halftime. Girma and Wesley played two full seasons together on the backline over three overlapping school years (2019-2022) as Girma took a redshirt season for her junior year (2020-21) due to injury. It was Wesley’s first international assist in her sixth career cap.
- Rose Lavelle’s goal in the 56th minute tonight was her 29th career goal and second goal of the week after recording one goal and an assist in the April 11 match against Japan. Lavelle now has 10 goal contributions in her last 10 matches for the USWNT.
- Lavelle was assisted by forward Trinity Rodman, who recorded her 11th international assist.
- Wesley scored her first international goal in the 64th minute. She is the 27th player to score a goal under head coach Emma Hayes. The center back ended her 45 minutes of play with two contributions, a goal and an assist, and was voted Woman of the Match.
- Jaedyn Shaw recorded her fifth career assist on Wesley’s goal with her service on a corner kick.
- Two of the three goals scored by the U.S. tonight came off corner kicks.
- The USWNT recorded its first clean sheet of the April window and its eighth shutout win in its last 10 matches.
- With the temperature at 38 degrees at kickoff and patches of snow pushed outside the edges of the pitch, it was the coldest WNT game since February 2022, which kicked off in Frisco, Texas.
- With the new FIFA substitution rules in effect (eight are now allowed in friendly matches), and Japan making use of a concussion sub, which gave the USA an extra substitution opportunity, the USA made its most ever substitutions in a single game over the 778 matches in program history with nine.
- Japan also made nine substitutions.
– U.S. WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT –
Match: United States vs. Japan
Date: April 17, 2026
Competition: International Friendly
Venue: DICK’S Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, Colo.
Attendance: 17,589
Kickoff: 7 p.m. MT / 9 p.m. ET
Weather: 38 degrees, mostly sunny
| Scoring Summary | 1 | 2 | F |
| USA | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| JPN | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| USA — Naomi Girma (Kennedy Wesley) | 47th minute |
| USA — Rose Lavelle (Trinity Rodman) | 56 |
| USA — Kennedy Wesley (Jaedyn Shaw) | 64 |
Lineups:
USA: 1-Claudia Dickey, 23-Emily Fox, 4-Naomi Girma (5-Lilly Reale, 83), 12-Tierna Davidson (25-Kennedy Wesley, 46), 22-Gisele Thompson (3-Avery Patterson, 62), 10-Lindsey Heaps (Capt.) (17-Sam Coffey, 63), 15-Claire Hutton (7-Lily Yohannes, 82), 16-Rose Lavelle (13-Olivia Moultrie, 73), 2-Trinity Rodman (20-Michelle Cooper, 73), 11-Sophia Wilson (9-Ally Sentnor, 73), 21-Alyssa Thompson (8-Jaedyn Shaw, 63)
Substitutes not used: 6-Emily Sams, 19-Emma Sears, 24-Phallon Tullis-Joyce
Not dressing: 14-Emily Sonnett, 18-Jane Campbell
Head Coach: Emma Hayes
JPN: 12-Chika Hirao, 2- Risa Shimizu (24-Maya Hijikata, 74), 6-Toko Koga (3-Moeka Minami, 60), 4-Saki Kumagai, 13-Hikaru Kitagawa (21-Miyabi Moriya, 25), 19-Momoko Tanikawa (20-Manaka Matsukubo, 46), 16-Yuzuki Yamamoto (17-Maika Hamano, 46), 14-Yui Hasegawa (Capt.) (10-Fuka Nagano, 74), 15-Aoba Fujino (22-Remina Chiba, 74), 9-Riko Ueki (11-Mina Tanaka, 46), 7-Hinata Miyazawa (18-Honoka Hayashi, 60)
Substitutes not used: 23-Akane Okuma, 1-Ayaka Yamashita
Head Coach: Michihisa Kano
Stats Summary: USA / JPN
Shots: 15 / 5
Shots on Goal: 7 / 3
Saves: 3 / 4
Corner Kicks: 6 / 2
Fouls: 7 / 5
Offside: 0 / 2
Misconduct Summary:
None
Officials:
Ref: Myriam Marcotte (CAN)
AR1: Mijensa Rensch (SUR)
AR2: Stephanie Yee Sing (JAM)
4TH: Carly Shaw-Maclaren (CAN)
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