Analysis: AJ Dybantsa’s career scoring night — and viral dunk — headline No. 10 BYU’s win over Abilene Christian

Years from now, BYU’s matchup with Abilene Christian on Friday will be remembered as the night AJ Dybantsa broke the internet.

Near the end of the first half of what became a 85-67 Cougars win, Rob Wright III clanked a 3-point attempt off the back of the rim. What happened next will be talked about, replayed and revered for as long as basketball is played at BYU.

Dybantsa, who was behind the 3-point line across the court from where Wright took his shot, darted down to the key and leapt forward.

An opponent stood in his way, but it didn’t matter. Dybantsa took flight anyway, plucking the ball out of the air with one hand before quickly throwing it back down for the slam in a single fluid motion to blow the roof off the Marriott Center.

“I’ll be honest, I’m pretty stoic over there (on the bench) when cool stuff happens just because you’re thinking about the next play. I feel like I’ve seen a lot of plays in my life, but I did react to that one,” BYU head coach Kevin Young said of Dybantsa’s dunk.

“That was insane. I can’t wait to watch it on film, but what a gifted player, man. That was unbelievable.”

But Dybantsa, who followed his dunk with an intense staredown of the man he posterized, was rather nonchalant postgame regarding his feat, even if some of his modesty may have been a tad bit tongue in cheek.

“That’s probably the best putback I’ve had, other than the one I had last year at Utah Prep. If you’ve all seen that one, that was kind of similar, but (tonight)’s probably like, top 7 all time,” Dybantsa said with a smirk.

But as exhilarating as Dybantsa’s dunk was, the rest of the night had its fair share of anxiety and frustration for the Cougars.

They didn’t take their first lead until after more than 12 minutes of play, had their advantage cut to just two points midway through the second half and needed a late 13-0 run to finally bury the ultra physical, upstart Abilene Christian squad and secure an 18-point victory.

“I mean, we had to grind it out. Our energy was a little lower than I think it needed to be, but, I mean, every game has its own life, and just like that, we had to figure it out,” said Richie Saunders, who scored 21 points on 6 of 10 shooting.

“I’m just glad we came up with a win, honestly.”

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Turnovers plagued BYU, which coughed up a season-high 18 giveaways — 12 coming in the first half — against a Wildcats team that pressures and fouls more than anyone else in the country.

Such pressure threw off the Cougars from the jump, as they passed rather poorly on a number of occasions and trailed 17-11 after 10 minutes before settling in a bit to lead 43-36 at intermission.

The 18 turnovers were nearly twice BYU’s previous single-game season average of 9.6.

“Their turnover rate is the sixth-best in the country, so that’s what they do,” Young said of Abilene Christian. “I was disappointed because, you know, everything that we said they were going to do they did, and we took the bait.”

Abilene Christian ultimately turned the 18 BYU turnovers into 18 points, helping keep the game much closer than the Cougars probably hoped or even expected.

But aside from the suspect ball security, BYU did shoot 59.5% from the field, as Dybantsa crossed the 30-point threshold for the first time with a career-high 35 points to go with six rebounds and four assists.

In one of the more unusual box scores you’ll see this year, Dybantsa got his 35 points on just 12 total shot attempts, using Abilene Christian’s penchant for fouling to his benefit by getting to the free throw line a whopping 20 times — half of BYU’s 40 foul shots — to scoop 17 points from the charity stripe alone.

“That’s how that team plays, you know, they’re super aggressive. They foul a lot, and they’re a hard team to play against because of it, but AJ’s a smart player. He understood what they were doing, and he was doing a good job of using that against them. That was impressive,” Young said.

“... That’s one of the great things about AJ, is his intelligence for the game. He figured out real quick what it was going to be all night.”

Of BYU’s 85 points, 56 of them (65.8%) came from the duo of Dybantsa and Saunders.

“We’re figuring it out,” Saunders said of the pair’s chemistry. “It’s a process, but it’s really fun. It’s fun to play with people who create so much gravity, and we’re learning how to use that to our advantage as a team.”

The Cougars were without a starter in big man Keba Keita, whose absence because of illness was definitely felt as BYU’s rebounding and inside offense wasn’t quite up to its typical standard.

In all, the Cougars won the board battle by a 30-26 margin and both scored and surrendered 30 paint points — all totals that possibly would have looked better with their senior center on the floor.

Filling in for Keita were reserves Khadim Mboup — who got the starting nod — and Mihailo Boskovic, with the pair combining for 11 points, 12 rebounds (10 from Mboup) and six blocks.

“It’s clear that (Keita’s) impact on the game is everywhere,” Saunders said. “I mean, proud of the guys for stepping up, Khadim and Mihailo doing really well, stepping up, but you can’t replace Keba.”

It may have gotten ugly and frustrating, but both Young and Dybantsa acknowledged the value in Friday’s outing against Abilene Christian to help the Cougars prepare for other tenacious, intense defenses looming ahead in Big 12 play.

“Iowa State’s gonna do the same thing. Houston’s gonna do the same thing, so our guys have got to get used to playing against that type of pressure,” Young said. “But you have to give (Abilene Christian) all the credit, they were good tonight with that.

“... These games are great because they get you ready for conference play, you know, and I’m glad we scheduled that team because they’re a hard team to play against. You know, it’s when you can kind of just walk through a game and do whatever you want, I don’t think you get as much (out of it). That’s what I told their coach after, ‘Man, you guys are a hard team to play against,’ and it definitely made us better.”

Added Dybantsa: “Obviously I’m a freshman so I haven’t (experienced) the Big 12, but obviously coming last year to games, I’ve seen how physical it was, so this was definitely the game to play (tonight), trying to get used to it.”

BYU’s final nonconference opportunity will be Monday at the Marriott Center against another Quad 4 opponent in Eastern Washington.

Then, after a 12 day break, the Cougars will begin the daunting Big 12 gauntlet.