Analysis: No. 10 BYU explodes offensively in 47-point win over UC Riverside

When BYU took the Marriott Center floor Saturday night, it was the Cougars’ first appearance at their home arena in 32 days.

And what a 32 day stretch it was.

Over that span, BYU hopped on three separate flights to the east coast and two bus trips up to Salt Lake City.

The Cougars played in six Quad 1 or 2 contests — winning five — and captured a Thanksgiving tournament championship in Florida.

BYU took blue blood UConn down to the wire in Boston, blew out ranked foe Wisconsin at the Delta Center and stormed back to stun Clemson at the buzzer in New York City’s famed Madison Square Garden.

As eventful as the past 32 days were for the Cougars, it clearly made them a much better team, which was quite evident as BYU stomped UC Riverside 100-53 in Saturday’s long-awaited return to Provo.

“I mean, this place always has energy,” BYU head coach Kevin Young said after the game.
“That trip to New York (earlier this week) was great, but it was exhausting. We felt like we were there forever, honestly. We had a pretty exhausting day the day after the game. It took us an hour and 40 minutes to get to the airport, and then we had a five-hour flight.

“It was a long day, so I was honestly a little worried about a letdown getting back home just in terms of like letting our guard down, but that was clearly not the case, so kudos to the guys to respond.”

Such a response came in the form of BYU’s best offensive showing of the young season, as it crossed the century mark in points and averaging a blistering 1.389 points per possession.

After being plagued by slow starts throughout the year, the Cougars instead came out swinging to the tune of 49 first half points before pouring on another 51 after halftime.

“We’re just trying to bring the mentality we have in second halves to the first half,” said AJ Dybantsa. “Obviously, we’ve been coming out pretty lazy. Our second halves have been good, so we just wanted to bring that same mentality to the first half.”

The Cougars shot 59.1% from the field and 47.4% from 3-point range, dishing out 22 collective assists, scoring 54 paint points, another 29 points in transition and even getting a season-high 36 points from their bench.

“There were a couple of things we wanted to highlight or emphasize coming into this game, and the No. 1 thing offensively was just playing with the pass more in transition,” Young said.

“... (We) subsequently had the most fast break points with 29 fast break points, which is easier to do when you’re getting stops obviously, and then 22 assists, you know, that’s more how we want to play, and I thought the guys were really good there.”

Fresh off his finest performance to date against Clemson earlier this week, Dybantsa dazzled yet again on his home floor, scoring a game-high 26 points on 11 of 17 shooting and setting new personal bests with eight rebounds, seven assists and five steals.

And ever the finisher, 16 of his 26 points came in the second half.

“It was ridiculous what he just did out there,” Young said of Dybantsa. “I mean, he had 26 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, five steals, one block, and probably could have had 50 (points), truly. He’s a special player. That was incredible what he was doing out there. I’m just incredibly impressed with what he did tonight and what he’s done all season. The kid’s good, man, and then everyone feeds off him.

“... We’re gonna win a lot of games because of how good he is, but you know, it’s more about he’s good because he’s talented, but he’s a team guy. They’re hard to find, man. They’re really hard to find.”

In addition to Dybantsa, Richie Saunders posted 10 points in the game’s first four minutes to end up with a total of 19 points and five rebounds.

Rob Wright III scored nine points with six assists, and remaining starters Keba Keita and Kennard Davis Jr. teamed up for 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Leading BYU’s encouraging bench charge was backup point guard Aleksej Kostić, who drained five 3-pointers — including a heat check of three in a row in the first half — for 15 points, four assists and a plus/minus of +36 in 22 minutes to draw chants of his name from the ROC student section by game’s end.

“His shot making is a beautiful thing. I mean, that’s why we brought him here,” Young said of Kostić. “We felt like it was a matter of time before he was able to have a game like he had tonight.

“He’s kind of a hybrid between like Trevin (Knell) from last year and Dawson (Baker) because he can play with the ball a little bit more off the dribble, and if he can do that, man, that’s going to be obviously a huge weapon for us. Especially when we sub Rob out, he can do that next to AJ. I like that pairing.”

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Kostić was joined in his bench excellence by redshirt freshman Khadim Mboup, who notched his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

But Kostić’s night carries a great deal of significance — having the Austrian newcomer serve as BYU’s ball-handling and sharpshooting option off the bench going forward would be massive in filling the crucial role left by previous sixth man Baker following his season-ending knee injury.

“I always try to stay ready, and when I come in the game, try to shoot. I wouldn’t say it was something different that I did today. I just shoot the ball, and today I made a lot,” Kostić said.

“... It’s of course, very sad that we lose a player like Dawson. They told me that I will have a bigger role, and I’ll try to stay ready and step in his footsteps.”

BYU, now 9-1 on the season and 3-0 at home, will be back at the Marriott Center Tuesday night to face former WCC foe Pacific in the Cougars’ third-to-last contest before the start of Big 12 play in January.