LAS VEGAS — While at Maryland last season, Kevin Willard enjoyed the services of a 5-star freshman in big man Derik Queen.
Now having taken over at Villanova, Willard encountered another young phenom making his collegiate debut Monday night: BYU’s AJ Dybantsa.
Dybantsa didn’t disappoint, scoring 21 points to lead the No. 8-ranked Cougars past Willard’s Wildcats at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Much like the rest of the college basketball world, Willard was plenty impressed with Dybantsa’s outing.
“I had one of those [NBA lottery picks] last year, they’re fun,” Willard told reporters postgame.
“I’ve said it to to the media before, (Dybantsa)’s one of the best high school players I’ve seen come out in a long time. He’s got great size, great length, and he’s much tougher for a kid his age. So he’s the real deal.”
Trailing by as many as 14 points in the second half, Villanova clawed back to take a late, narrow lead before BYU locked back in and secured the victory in the last six minutes of action.
Despite the loss, Willard still appreciated the effort from his new-look group to take such a highly-touted opponent down to the wire amid a hostile environment, as the neutral site contest featured an overwhelming pro-Cougars crowd.
“That was a road game,” Willard said, referring to BYU’s strong fan showing. “So to have your first game with 13 new guys and for them to show the fight and to find a way get some stops, yeah, (it was) definitely positive.”
James Madison transfer Bryce Lindsay led all scorers with 22 points — including five made 3-pointers — while Christian Jeffrey added 11 points in limited action and Duke Brennan posted eight points and 15 rebounds for the Wildcats.
Villanova held BYU to just 29 points, 1 of 6 3-point shooting and a single assist in the second half. Conversely, the Cougars shut down the Wildcats down the stretch, with Willard’s squad failing to score across a nearly five minute period.
“We did some really good things in the second half defensively,” Willard said. “... Offensively, we’re taking some bad shots, some early shots that are causing bad defense.”
It’s projected to be a bit of a rebuilding year for Villanova, who was picked to finish seventh in the Big East in Willard’s first season at the helm of the program.
While he said his team “had good fight” against BYU, Willard expressed his frustration with trying to get the most out of his roster by finding the right players to put on the floor together, something that will ultimately come with time but is certainly more difficult early on in a season.
“One of my biggest issues I’m having is just trying to piece together lineups right now because we just haven’t practiced (enough),” Willard said. “I’m just trying to find lineups that complement each other, and that’s been a challenge right now.”
