Despite the hype that has surrounded BYU freshman Egor Demin — a potential NBA lottery draft pick — it’s junior Richie Saunders who has been the Cougars’ MVP and steadiest player this season.BYU (12-6, 3-4 Big 12) will lean on Saunders again Saturday night when it hosts Cincinnati (12-6, 2-5) and tries to get its conference record back to .500.In an 83-67 victory at Colorado on Tuesday — BYU’s first true road win this season — Saunders scored 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field and grabbed five rebounds. He is averaging a team-high 14.5 points while shooting 52 percent overall and 43 percent from 3-point range.”Richie’s been a stud for us all year,” BYU coach Kevin Young said. “He’s very consistent. He’s a hard guy to stop, because a lot of stuff he gets, he gets it within the flow. He probably has one of the quickest releases in the country, I think.”The Cougars likely will need more than the two points Saunders contributed last year when Cincinnati visited Provo and upset the then-No. 12 Cougars 71-60 in BYU’s Big 12 debut.Trevin Knell led BYU with 27 points on nine 3-pointers when the teams met last year. Knell had 14 points against Colorado to help the Cougars win for the second time in three games after a three-game skid.Demin dished out a team-high seven assists to go with eight points, four steals and two blocked shots against the Buffaloes.