No AJ Dybantsa?
No. 9 BYU hardly needed its preseason All-America star in Friday’s 98-70 blitz of No. 23 Wisconsin at the Delta Center.
When foul trouble forced Dybantsa to the bench early in the second half, the Cougars launched themselves past their Big Ten foe in impressive fashion.
The 4-1 Cougars dispatched an army of role players at Wisconsin, and with their collective speed, length and athleticism, combined with a smothering defense, proved too much for the Badgers.
This rematch of the BYU-Wisconsin NCAA Tournament game of last March was not on repeat. This time, BYU boatraced Wisconsin.
With Dybantsa picking up his third and fourth fouls just over two minutes into the second half, his teammates outscored Wisconsin 23-17 in the 9-minute stretch their superstar watched from the bench.
BYU head coach Kevin Young said when Dybantsa went out, he thought, “How are we going to weather this?”
He found out.
“Not only did we weather it, we increased the lead,” Young said.
Richie Saunders scored a game-high 26 points on 10 of 16 shooting with five buckets from distance to lead the Cougars. Point guard Rob Wright had a double-double with 10 points and 11 assists. Dybantsa, who came back on the court with just over six minutes to play, added 18 points on 11 of 12 free throws.
But the story of this game was BYU’s defense and physical play by a bench that provided 29 points.
Freshmen Khadim Mboup and Dominique Diomande came off the bench and quickly caused Wisconsin issues, disrupting their high-geared offense and throwing a wrench into their usually silky 3-point shooting.
Both Mboup and Diomande had five rebounds and kept multiple missed shots alive and into the hands of teammates.
Mboup’s top of the key steal and dunk with 6:14 to play in the first half brought down the house and earned him a chest bump from Young as the Cougars opened a 34-18 lead.
After BYU started slow before chasing down No. 3 UConn in Boston last weekend in a 2-point loss, the Cougars had plenty to work out.
Could they rebound? Where was the 3-point defense and offense outside Saunders? Did BYU have a bench in the absence of starter Kennard Davis Jr., serving a suspension? What about defense?
Playing a third straight game without Davis, and a big chunk of Friday’s game without Dybantsa, a lot of those questions were answered.
BYU’s defense limited Wisconsin star guards Nick Boyd and John Blackwell to a combined 30 points when they average nearly 40 together, and they went a combined 1 of 9 from beyond the arc.
Offensively, Young said the game plan called to space out Wisconsin’s defense. “We had a speed advantage. That’s why we got up 34 3s.”
Young told his players if they were in the NBA they’d have played four games since the UConn loss. “We had to sit on that loss a long time. Our players were motivated.”
Mboup, playing for Keba Keita, proved pesky for Wisconsin. His energy level was an immediate boost to the Cougars. Setting screens, crashing the boards and diving for a loose ball were plays he made that kept a partisan crowd engaged.
BYU outshot Wisconsin 48% to 38% and made 14 treys to Wisconsin’s 7. The Cougars outshot their Big Ten foe 41% to 24% from distance.
While Wisconsin came in as one of the top five free-throw shooting teams in the country, BYU outshot the Badgers from the charity stripe 76% to 65%. The Cougars also held the edge in points off turnovers, 18-10, and outrebounded the Badgers 44-39.
It was obvious that since the UConn game, Young and his staff had pushed some buttons with their team. There was the fast start, the physical play, the passion on defense, hitting the boards and a far different number in the assist column, an 18-8 advantage over Wisconsin.
Young said he did not take out Dybantsa when he got his third foul because he trusts him and Saunders to stay in the game and play smart. He didn’t expect Dybantsa to get his fourth just seconds later.
The Cougars had only eight turnovers, which will keep them in the top 10 nationally. The win elevated the Cougars to No. 7 in KenPom, a rise of 10 spots.
“We came in wanting to be aggressive and more physical,” said Wright, who told the media afterwards the team’s chemistry is improving with each game. When Dybantsa had to sit, Wright said, “We have a lot of threats on this team.”
Young said what the Wisconsin win showed is what he’d hoped he’d see when the season began. “Tonight was the first game all year where everybody that we brought here, we brought here for a reason and I think you saw that tonight.”
Young said if the Cougars hadn’t played North Carolina, Nebraska, Villanova and UConn, his team wouldn’t have learned what it has, things that showed up in the Wisconsin win.
“It means everything,” he said.
Young said he met with Saunders earlier this week, discussing roles and chemistry. He told Saunders to calm down with the worries of things coming together.
“This is going to take a little bit of time. We have to work through all this. We’re not just going to snap our fingers and be the team we want to be,” Young told Saunders.
“Tonight, that’s what our vision of this version of BYU basketball looks like. I thought we were clicking on all cylinders.”
