KANSAS CITY — Eighth-ranked BYU fell 90-89 at Nebraska in its first of two exhibition games to start the 2025-26 college basketball season, but coach Kevin Young still wants to play more of the non-counting contests in future years, rather than fewer.
Asked Wednesday at the Big 12 basketball media days about what would be the right amount of exhibition games, Young threw out twice the number that are currently allowed.
“Could you do four?” he asked. “That would feel better than practicing against each other every single day.”
As was detailed by the Deseret News’ Jackson Payne last week, new NCAA rules allow teams to play up to two exhibitions against any other four-year school. In the past, Division I teams such as BYU could only participate in exhibition games against schools from different divisions.
The Cougars, who are No. 8 in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll and were picked to finish second in the ultra-tough Big 12 by the coaches, play their second exhibition game Friday at the Delta Center in downtown Salt Lake City, their home away from home.
Young’s crew will face No. 25 North Carolina at 7 p.m. MDT as part of the Bad Boy Mower Series. The matchup will be televised by ESPN+.
Young said he will take roughly the same approach to the game as he did in the Nebraska game, which is to say that winning is not the No. 1 priority. Against the Cornhuskers, who were playing at the end as if their season depended on the outcome, Young shook up his rotations the entire second half, point guard Rob Wright III didn’t play after halftime and four reserves played more minutes than most of the starters in the second half.
In the last 10 seconds, with the Cougars trailing by a point, Young had five backups on the floor and 30-point scorer AJ Dybantsa on the bench. Jared McGregor, who played sparingly last year, hoisted up the last shot.
Dybantsa, the main attraction for the Cougars Wednesday in Kansas City, scored 30 points and was 10 of 19 from the field in a spectacular debut. At least a dozen NBA scouts took in that game in Lincoln, and even more are expected Friday night at the home of the Utah Jazz.
Young said Wright was on a “minute restriction” against Nebraska and those limitations will continue Friday. He said the Cougars are a bit dinged up, with “four guys that are out.” He said two of those players, whom he did not specify, have non-serious injuries that they are not overly concerned about.
“And two of them (have) stuff that we’re monitoring and the guys aren’t coming back tomorrow, in that case.”
The coach said his approach Friday will depend on the health of those guys. UC Irvine transfer Nate Pickens and returning players Dawson Baker and Brody Kozlowski did not play in the blue-white intrasquad game two weeks ago, or in the Nebraska game.
“I won’t sub the way I would for a normal game,” Young acknowledged. “I mean, it is going to depend on health, really, for us.”
Last year, BYU played Colorado Christian in an exhibition at the Marriott Center, and against Boise State in a “secret scrimmage,” winning both.
Things get real on Nov. 3 when the Cougars face Villanova at T-Mobile Arena (7:30 p.m. MST, TNT) in the Hall of Fame Series in Las Vegas.
Young said a priority this year, in terms of exhibition games and nonconference games, is to face “steeper competition” throughout October, November and December. Big 12 play begins Jan. 3 at Kansas State.
“Unfortunately, this year, we were super banged up in our first exhibition game, so we didn’t get (exactly what they wanted),” he said. “We learned some, but we didn’t learn what we really wanted to learn.
“I wish it was more like the NBA. I hate practicing for eight straight months. I guess it’s four or five straight months where you’re just going against each other. Just in talking a lot of the coaches, I think you get your own guys banged up.
“I wish we could play more (exhibition games), just so you get different looks, different bodies and things like that. So I’m in favor of (playing more). I like them, and hopefully in the future, we can get more.”
More odds and ends from Big 12 basketball media days
Young and new University of Utah basketball coach Alex Jensen aren’t close buddies with long histories working together like their football counterparts — Kalani Sitake and Kyle Whittingham — but they are considerably more friendly with each other than past Utah and BYU basketball coaches have been.
That was apparent Wednesday as they went from one media interview to another. Jensen and the Utes were in the morning session, while Young and the Cougars were in the afternoon session at T-Mobile Center in downtown Kansas City.
“Kevin and I coached against each other in the D league. In fact, I think my first D league game, I lost to Kevin. So yeah, I’ve gotten to know Kevin in the D league and then obviously against each other as assistants in the NBA,” Jensen said. “He’s done a great job at BYU. We have talked briefly on a few occasions about the transition (from NBA to college). It’s different. There is a lot more practice time and things of that nature in college.
But yeah, I’ve known Kevin for quite a few years now. He’s done a great job. Good coach.”
Senior center Keba Keita was a liability at the end of games during BYU’s NCAA Tournament run last spring because he struggled at the free-throw line. He finished the season shooting 41% (30 of 73) from the charity stripe, despite shooting a sparkling 67.3% from the field.
Young said the senior from Bamako, Mali, has worked extra hard on his free-throw shooting over the summer and has improved a lot.
“It was hard to take him off the floor last year because he’s so good defensively and he put so much pressure on the rim offensively,” Young said. “I don’t think he’s gonna come out and start shooting step-back 3s. I think you’re gonna see the same Keba, just hopefully more of it.
“I do think his free-throw shooting is an area we invested a lot of time this summer. He’s a guy that’s got to be able to knock them down at a higher clip than he did, and he’s taken personal pride in that, and I look forward to seeing an improved free-throw shooter.”
