No one in college basketball is currently scoring more than AJ Dybantsa.
As of Monday, BYU’s freshman phenom is leading the country in scoring at 23.1 points per game, doing so on 58.6% shooting from the field and a true shooting mark of 67.1%.
While Tarleton State’s Dior Johnson is also averaging 23.1 points per game, he has played in 12 total contests compared to 14 for Dybantsa. Thus, Dybantsa has scored 324 points on the season, with Johnson sitting behind at 277.
Ranking below Dybantsa and Johnson on the national scoring leaderboard are three players each tied at 23.0 points per game: Duke freshman star Cameron Boozer; Northwestern’s Nick Martinelli; and P.J. Haggerty of Kansas State, who fell 83-73 to Dybantsa’s Cougars this past weekend.
BYU has not had a player end the season as the nation’s leading scorer since Jimmer Fredette in 2011.
Dybantsa has scored at least 20 points in each of his past seven outings, tying NBA legend Kevin Durant for the fourth-longest such streak for a Big 12 freshman over the past 20 years.
Additionally, Dybantsa’s nine total 20-point performances this year are the third-most by a freshman in BYU history. Perhaps by season’s end he’ll own the top spot on that list.
Among Dybantsa’s top moments this season have been his 28 points in a comeback win over Clemson at Madison Square Garden, a career-high 35 points against Abilene Christian, and his famous 33-point triple double against Eastern Washington.
Dybantsa and the Cougars return to Provo this week to face Arizona State Wednesday night, after which they will go up the road to Salt Lake City for Dybantsa’s first encounter with archrival Utah.
