Analysis: AJ Dybantsa’s record 43 points lift BYU past Utah

AJ Dybantsa may never play Utah again. If he doesn’t, Saturday’s record performance will be enough. It was AJ, not AI. It was that good, it was hard to tell.

Dybantsa, who scored 20 points in BYU’s 89-84 win over Utah January 10 in Salt Lake City to chants of “over-rated, over-rated,” set a BYU freshman record Saturday with 43 points on 15 field goals made in the Cougars’ 91-78 win over the Runnin’ Utes.

That means over the two games he scored a total of 63 points, or a 31.5 average.

Dybantsa hit three straight 3-pointers and added a one-handed down-the-lane slam dunk in the final minutes. Those three from beyond the arc were part of his 4-for-5 effort from distance in the game.

That they came late, as BYU raced to a 21-point lead and had the crowd anticipating him going over 40, was kind of icing on the cake.

At Utah, Dybantsa was often doubled and triple-teamed in an effective ploy to prevent him from beating the Utes. In this game, Utah brought double coverage, but it was often late in the shot clock.

The single coverage opened a path for Dybantsa to push his game on the Ute defense, and the freshman drove the paint, pulled up for jumpers, got rebound putbacks and his slam dunk off of a Utah turnover under BYU’s basket with 2:31 remaining put the Cougars up 89-68.

When Dybantsa wasn’t the focus of BYU’s offense, point guard Rob Wright III attacked the paint, scoring over and over again with crafty moves under the basket.

Wright finished with 21 points.

Richie Saunders, the third BYU Musketeer, got off to a slow start, missing layups and 3s, including air-balling one from distance, but he finished with 12 points (just 1 of 5 from distance).

These three Cougar guns scored 76 of BYU’s 91 points.

Utah struggled to defend Dybantsa and Wright off the dribble as Young called for attack mode to draw fouls on Utah. BYU went to the line 23 times and made 11, with Dybantsa making 9 of 10, and Wright was 7 of 8 from the stripe.

Prep for No. 1 UA

The BYU win elevated the Cougars to 17-2 on the season and 5-1 in Big 12 play heading into Monday’s showdown with No. 1 and undefeated Arizona (20-0, 7-0) in the Marriott Center.

The Cougars will need to be better against the Wildcats after Utah, a 38% 3-point shooting team, shot a blistering 62% from beyond the arc against the Cougars on 13 of 21 shooting.

Ute forward Keanu Dawes, a 25% shooter from the 3-point line, hit 4 of his 5 treys as part of his team-high 23 points.

The Cougars will see far more firepower inside and out from Arizona on Monday night and will not practice Sunday. Arizona shoots among the fewest 3-point shots in the country but has an elite midrange and power rim game.

There will be limited walkthrough for the Cougars on Monday, game day.

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The Cougars could get a big boost from added minutes and effort from freshman power forward Khadim Mboup, who they will need against Arizona.

Mboup had six rebounds, two blocks and a steal in his 21 minutes Saturday. At times he played with center Keiba Keita, and when he was on the court, BYU went on scoring runs with his hustle and defense.

Mboup was deployed to guard Utah’s star shooter Terrence Brown with a charge to chase him around, keep in front of him and make him work for his shots.

Brown had a solid 22-point effort for the Utes, but the 6-foot-9 Mboup was able to leave his defense on Brown at timely moments to hit the boards on both ends of the court.

Dybantsa perspective

It’s been 48 years since a BYU freshman had the kind of game Dybantsa had on Saturday, and that was Danny Ainge, who was named the Naismith Award winner as a senior a few years later as the NCAA’s Player of the Year.

The illustrious Jimmer Fredette had 52 points against New Mexico in the Mountain West Conference tournament in Las Vegas in 2011 as the most prolific scoring effort in Cougar history, but Fredette was a senior.

Like Ainge, he also earned the Naismith Award.

Dybantsa’s effort was the most in a single game by a BYU player since Chase Fischer scored 41 on Dec. 23, 2015 at the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu.

Fischer was a senior guard and set a tournament record with 9 3-point makes on 14 attempts in a 96-66 win over New Mexico.

It is unlikely that Dybantsa returns for his sophomore year since he is considered one of the top three college players in the NBA draft.

If so, the Utes may have seen just the last and definitely enough of the BYU freshman.

This effort elevated his season average from 22.5 points per game on the season to a 23.5 average. He scored 19 in the first half and 24 in the second period.