Analysis: AJ Dybantsa’s historic triple-double headlines No. 10 BYU’s win over Eastern Washington in nonconference finale

At this point, no one can — or should — deny that AJ Dybantsa is a generational talent.

Dybantsa has more than earned such status over the first 13 games of his college career at BYU. He burst on the scene with 21 points against Villanova in his collegiate debut. He exploded in the second halves of outings at Boston and New York City’s respective Garden arenas to loudly announce his arrival as the sport’s newest superstar.

He’s become a human highlight reel, having recently broken the internet with college basketball’s dunk of the year in a career-high 35-point showing against Abilene Christian this past weekend.

But in the Cougars’ final nonconference opportunity Monday against Eastern Washington, Dybantsa gave his most outstanding performance to date, one that proved to be exactly as he is: generational.

The freshman phenom posted 33 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in BYU’s 109-81 win, notching the first triple-double of his career and the program’s first since March of 2016, when Mr. Triple-Double himself, Kyle Collinsworth, accomplished the feat for the 12th and final time.

For Dybantsa, it was as historic an effort as it was electric:

• Dybantsa is the first player in BYU program history with a 30-point triple-double. For context, the Cougars have been playing basketball for 124 seasons.
• At 18 years and 329 days old, Dybantsa became the youngest player in NCAA history with a 30-point triple-double.
• Perhaps most impressively, after shooting 11 for 13 from the field on the night, Dybantsa is the first college player this century to get a 30-point triple-double on 80% shooting.

Dybantsa, rushing out to catch a flight, was unable to speak with the media following the win, but he really didn’t need to say anything at all. His play did more than enough talking.

“He’s really starting to understand how aggressive he can be,” BYU head coach Kevin Young said of Dybantsa after the game. “College basketball, by nature, is physical. With his ability to get by his man, people put hands on him, so he’s able to get to the (free throw) line a lot. And then for the most part, they were playing in one-on-one coverage. He’s able to do that.

“With the 10 assists, once he started drawing more of a crowd, he was able to find guys. I’m more happy with the 10 rebounds. He gets in there and gets some boards on the offensive glass like we’ve talked about.”

Dybantsa poured in 21 of his 33 points in the first half, while doing the bulk of his rebounding and assist work after halftime.

When he found Mihailo Boskovic for a 3-pointer late in the second half to secure his 10th assist and clinch the prestigious triple-double, the Marriott Center crowd of nearly 18,000 fans reacted with an eruption more intense than the Cougars have experienced all season — aside from Rob Wright III’s game-winning buzzer-beater against Clemson, of course.

Wright’s summation of Dybantsa’s night?

“Great talent, great player. It’s crazy.”

Enough said.

In Dybantsa, BYU fans — and the college basketball world as a whole — are witnessing greatness every night, especially throughout the month of December, where he’s averaged 27.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.3 steals on 65.9% shooting across six total contests.

As exciting as Dybantsa’s antics were on Monday, the Cougars were plagued by yet another slow start, as has been the case far too often throughout their nonconference schedule.

But unlike the previous slow starts, rather than stalling offensively out of the gate, BYU couldn’t figure out how to stop Eastern Washington. The Eagles shot 51.5% from the field and 40% from 3-point range in the first half to trail by just five points at intermission.

“I thought we were as disconnected (defensively) as we’ve been all year,” Young said. “I thought Eastern Washington came in and played extremely free and aggressive in the first half. They shot 20 threes, and we don’t really give up threes at that rate. They made eight of them and we were lazy.

“It was just poor effort, which we don’t usually do.”

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While BYU was playing in its fourth game in nine days, Young said he didn’t believe the lack of early physicality and focus for his team was due to fatigue, but rather from looking ahead to the forthcoming holiday break along with solid execution from the Eagles.

“I just think it’s that Christmas is in (three) days and everyone’s excited about that, you either have family in town or you have a trip on the horizon,” Young said. “Some of it’s human element, but again, Eastern Washington, you have to give them credit. They’ve played a lot of high major teams down to the wire. Coach (Dan) Monson knows what he’s doing, he’s been that it a long time and he had his guys ready.”

BYU did get its act together defensively in the second half, holding Eastern Washington to 2 of 12 shooting from behind the arc in the latter frame after having been torched there earlier.

“We called the guys out at halftime, showed them some clips and switched the scheme a little bit in the second half,” Young said. “It was a tale of two halves on the defensive end.”

Added Wright: “They were like 8 for 20 from three in the first half and they went 2-for-12 in the second half. Us being able to lock in on that was huge.”

Offensively, the Cougars scored a season-high 109 points and looked as good as they have all year. They shot 53.5% from the field, dishing out 23 assists against nine turnovers and averaging an elite 1.48 points per possession.

Outside of Dybantsa’s 33 points, Richie Saunders provided 22 points, also swiping three steals on the defensive end.

Kennard Davis Jr. added another 22 points of his own, hitting five 3-pointers after having gone 1 for 10 from deep in the previous two games.

Wright scored 17 points — 11 after halftime — while racking up seven assists.

The Cougars’ 42 attempts from 3-point range was by far their highest such volume of the season, making 16 triples at a 38.1% clip.

“The big point of emphasis (offensively) was what we call ‘point five,’ which is making quick decisions, which usually leads to good ball movement and lots of threes,” Young explained postgame.

Making his BYU debut, former G League big man Abdullah Ahmed logged nine minutes of action, scoring a point and grabbing five total rebounds — two offensive — with a block.

“You saw it today on the offensive glass, I think he brings another level of toughness,” Saunders said of his new teammate Ahmed. “He’s experienced, he knows what he’s doing and just having more of a veteran mindset is really good for us, especially from that standpoint.”

With Monday’s win, BYU has completed the nonconference portion of its schedule, standing at 12-1 with five total Quad 1/2 victories.

The Cougars will now have 11 days off before beginning Big 12 play on Jan. 3 at Kansas State.

“There’s definitely things we can get better at, but I think we’re at a B+,” Young said of his team’s readiness for conference play. “There’s definitely things we want to sharpen up, but we’ve played some good teams and we’ve played in a lot of different situations.”