BYU is moving on.
Led by Egor Demin and Richie Saunders, which combined for 31 points, the Cougars cruised to an 80-71 victory over VCU in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Thursday.
With the win, the Cougars ended a 13-year losing streak in the NCAA tournament. The last win was in 2012 — a year after Jimmer Fredette left — as BYU took down Iona, 78-72 during the first four game in Dayton, Ohio.
The victory pushes the sixth-seeded Cougars (25-9) into a Saturday showdown against No. 3 Wisconsin, which handled Montana 85-66 earlier in the day.
VCU, which was looking for its first tournament win since 2016, couldn’t stop BYU’s high-octane offense, despite being one of the toughest defensive teams in the country.
BYU shot 50% from the field and 35% from beyond the arc. Most impressively, the Cougars dominated the paint outscoring VCU 38-20 which helped the team push the lead to 20 midway through the second half. Fousseyni Traore and Keba Keita couldn’t be stopped as the two combined for 22 points, 18 rebounds and four blocked shots.
On offense, the Rams were led by Zeb Jackson, who came off the bench and scored a game-high 23 points. Max Shulga, Joe Bamisile and Jack Clark all added 12 points in the loss for VCU which came in with their best record in 13 years and were coming off winning the Atlantic 10 regular season and tournament titles.
As you can imagine, social media was buzzing following the historic victory.
Here a look at all the reactions:
I gave you a bunch of reasons why BYU would beat VCU!
Cougars end the streak and get their first tournament win since 2012. Played out just like I thought. https://t.co/cMcw7voBFp#BYUBasketball #GoCougs #MarchMadness #CBB #Big12MBB
— Justin Giles (@JustinGiles_) March 20, 2025
“We did exactly what we said we were gonna do.” – Coach Young pic.twitter.com/PdITOR3OBe
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) March 20, 2025
Kevin Young can coach y'all
— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) March 20, 2025
This is a heck of a performance from byu
— Tony Jones (@Tjonesonthenba) March 20, 2025
BYU wins an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 2012 in the First Four against Iona.
Cougars beat an excellent VCU team in Denver to advance and play Wisconsin on Saturday in Denver.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 20, 2025
Kevin Young has won a game in March Madness before Mark Pope
— 🏀 801 Bracketology 🏀 (@801bracketology) March 20, 2025
The “Denver Chapter” of Cougar Nation! https://t.co/Wowcut8LXs
— Tom Holmoe (@TomHolmoe) March 20, 2025
Pretty much Belt 2 ass today! Good job Brigham!
— Kyle Van Noy (@KVN_03) March 20, 2025
Let’s gooooooooo!!! BYU hoops is BACK!!!!!!
— Kyle Collinsworth (@collinsworth55) March 20, 2025
I SEE YOU JIMMER
— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) March 20, 2025
All the stars were out today! #BYUBasketball #GoCougs #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/dttI2frkkK
— Justin Giles (@JustinGiles_) March 20, 2025
March Madness 2025: Big 12 Needs To Avenge Last Year’s Embarrassment
What's better than having one National Player of the Year in the house?
Having two. https://t.co/8474GDwkur pic.twitter.com/nGZD7DK5D0
— BYU Cougars (@BYUCougars) March 20, 2025
Twitter was in its infancy during Jimmer. This is the first time we've really been able to tweet through a BYU Basketball NCAA Tournament victory. I enjoy this.
— Robby McCombs (@rtmccombs) March 20, 2025
Welcome back to the Round of 32, Cougars 👋#Big12MBB | @MarchMadnessMBB pic.twitter.com/V3ahzSKlzh
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) March 20, 2025
Seth Davis just reaffirmed that BYU is going to the Elite 8. pic.twitter.com/fEIR00qpOp
— 🍍Andy Splatz🍍 (@AndySplatz) March 20, 2025
BYU has God.
— locked on big 12, america’s conference. (@LOBig12) March 20, 2025
i screamed at them “GO COUGS! GAMEDAY! LET’S GO COUGARS!” and they looked really scared
assuming people who scream at them aren’t ~ usually ~ so positive
— locked on big 12, america’s conference. (@LOBig12) March 20, 2025
“Uh oh. Egor learned how to shoot 3s.” pic.twitter.com/B4QWlavs6T
— Jake Welch (@BYUAllBlue) March 20, 2025
Here’s a list of all the teams who scored 80 or more against VCU this season.
1. BYU
— Sporty (@SportyMcSports) March 20, 2025
I don't know how even the most pessimistic BYU fans can't be very satisfied with today's performance. Team started fine, then kicked it into gear and rolled.
It exploited the pronounced weaknesses of a solid VCU team and got good contributions from almost everyone. It was a…
— Brandon Gurney (@BrandonCGurney) March 20, 2025
My 10 year old just asked me at the bus stop if I could check him out early so he can watch the BYU game 🥹🥹 Obviously the answer is YES, I have been DREAMING of this day! All those years of indoctrination are paying off baby!
— Jess Tyler (@everydayjess) March 20, 2025
So worth it pic.twitter.com/isJSrv7MIE
— Jess Tyler (@everydayjess) March 20, 2025
Fouss Traore has been a major difference-maker for BYU. Has gotten them some big buckets and offensive rebounds that have been major pressure relievers against the VCU length. This has been a really good showing from the Cougars in what was a tricky matchup for them on paper.
— Kevin Sweeney (@CBB_Central) March 20, 2025
We're teaming up with basketball hotshot Richie Saunders, the great-grandson of Ore-Ida founder and inventor of Tater Tots, to give away free tots if Richie's team wins today. If they win, the countdown for our 30-minute ‘Tot Clock’ will begin at the link in our IG bio post-game! pic.twitter.com/QwKKCFtVfs
— Ore-Ida Potatoes (@OreIdaPotatoes) March 20, 2025
Our family has pledged to eat tater tots every day until BYU loses.#BYU #BYUbasketball pic.twitter.com/iBgb5vuRUt
— P Cazier (@cazbyu) March 19, 2025
March Madness 2025: Big 12 Needs To Avenge Last Year’s Embarrassment
cougs looking like a final four team 👀
— jayhawk lasso (@jaylassoku) March 20, 2025
BYU has looked so good, they’ve done so well picking apart a strong VCU defense, especially inside.
Round of 32 vs Wisconsin with a potential Bama matchup in the sweet 16 will be great
— Ryan Hammer🔨 (@ryanhammer09) March 20, 2025
STILL DANCING. pic.twitter.com/mXkQVtFUNE
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) March 20, 2025
Go Cougs! 🤙🏼🤙🏼 #MarchMadness https://t.co/VqchWpMstf
— Chris Burgess (@chrisburgess34) March 20, 2025
Great defensive effort from our guys today! On to the next! #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/DvaGZa6Jum
— Will Voigt (@CoachWillVoigt) March 20, 2025
W! Cougs looked good doing it. Wrestled control late first half and never let go! Congratulations @BYUMBB
— Tim LaComb (@tlacomb) March 20, 2025
School years BYU has won a football bowl game and an NCAA tournament game:
1980/81: SMU, Princeton/UCLA/Notre Dame
1983/84: Washington State, UAB
2009/10: Oregon State, Florida (2OT)
2010/11: UTEP, Wofford/Gonzaga
2024/25: Colorado, VCU …— Greg Welch (@ArtDirectorBYU) March 21, 2025
Max Shulga and Ryan Odom might’ve left Utah State for VCU, but they still can't escape BYU 😂
— Justin Giles (@JustinGiles_) March 20, 2025
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March Madness 2025: Big 12 Needs To Avenge Last Year’s Embarrassment
