It was a heartbreaker for BYU in Beantown.
The Cougars’ late comeback attempt against UConn fell just short Saturday night, as they fell to the Huskies 86-84 at TD Garden in Boston.
3 takeaways
BYU refused to lay down and die. The Cougars trailed by 11 points at halftime and by as many as 20 in the second half, yet they lost by just a single bucket.
Upon going down 62-43 with 13 minutes left to play, BYU finished on a 41-24 run before the clock finally hit zero.
AJ Dybantsa and Dawson Baker each hit clutch 3-pointers in the final minute to keep the Cougars alive.
Had Rob Wright not turned the ball over with 12 seconds remaining, another triple would have tied the score.
It’s a loss, but Saturday still feels like a legitimate moral victory for Kevin Young’s squad.
BYU showed a great deal of fight in responding to adversity and took a true national-title contender down to the wire, doing so with starter Kennard Davis sidelined and after losing big man Keba Keita early in the contest.
The Cougars clearly grew up a bit against UConn. Perhaps we’ll eventually look back at Saturday as a turning point for the season.
AJ Dybantsa came alive late when BYU needed him most. Dybantsa’s homecoming got off to a pretty awkward start, as he went into halftime with just four points on 1-of-6 shooting.
But the second half was a completely different story.
Dybantsa dominated down the stretch, scoring 21 points in the final 14 minutes of play. Three UConn players finished with 21 points on the night. Dybantsa posted that number in crunch time and finished with 25.
Though BYU lost, Saturday made it abundantly clear that Dybantsa is a true difference-making superstar. If the Cougars can clean up their shortcomings over the next four months, Dybantsa is the type of talent that can lead them on a deep NCAA Tournament run.
Saturday proved that.
BYU’s defense still has plenty of work to do. The Cougars didn’t offer much resistance to UConn’s well-oiled offensive machine, as the Huskies shot 56.6% from the field, 44.4% from 3-point range and averaged 1.21 points per possession.
Additionally, UConn punished BYU down low, as the Cougars surrendered 42 paint points — their Keita-less crop of big men struggled mightily on the defensive end.
BYU did, however, force 16 turnovers with 10 steals. The Cougars still have a few weeks to sort out their woes down low and on the perimeter before Big 12 play begins. Fixing such issues will be the difference between merely finishing in the upper part of the conference standings and actually contending to win the league.
