Analysis: AJ Dybantsa delivers a show-stopping performance as BYU bulls its way past Kansas State

KANSAS CITY — BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa, snubbed on Monday in the race for Big 12 Player of the Year honors, said that watching Arizona’s Jaden Bradley win the prestigious award didn’t motivate him all that much Tuesday night when the Cougars took on lowly Kansas State in a Big 12 tournament first-round game.

“I was just trying to focus on (getting) the win,” Dybantsa said after the Cougars outscored the Wildcats 105-91 at T-Mobile Center to get their 22nd victory of the year. “Whatever it took to just get the win.”

Don’t believe him.

In one of the greatest individual performances in BYU and Big 12 tournament history, the Big 12 Freshman of the Year broke Kevin Durant’s tournament scoring record for a freshman (37 points) with 40 points on 15 of 21 shooting. It was just the second 40-point game in tournament history.

“I think it was probably one of his most complete (games) ever. I thought it was just a full display of his skill set. He’s the most skilled offensive player in college basketball, and it was on full display tonight.”

—  BYU coach Kevin Young on AJ Dybantsa

Dybantsa also added nine rebounds, six assists and three steals and was 8 of 9 from the free-throw line. He made a half-dozen or so highlight plays, plays that had the pro-BYU crowd in downtown Kansas City gaping in disbelief.

According to ESPN Research, Dybantsa was the first player with at least 35 points and five assists in a Big 12 tournament game. Also, BYU’s 105 points is a Big 12 tournament record, not bad for a school that has only been in five of these games.

“What he was doing was super impressive, because I thought he was scoring every way possible,” said BYU coach Kevin Young. “He was scoring in the post. He was scoring in transition. He was scoring in pick-and-roll. He was scoring in isolations, coming off some pin-downs, making good passes out of the post, making good passes out of the pick-and-roll.

“So I think it was probably one of his most complete (games) ever,” Young continued. “I thought it was just a full display of his skill set. He’s the most skilled offensive player in college basketball, and it was on full display tonight. In terms of where that stacks up, you got to put it right near the top, given the fact that it was in the Big 12 tournament.”

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The joke running around the press room after Dybantsa’s big game was that the only entity capable of stopping Dybantsa on Tuesday was the moderator in the postgame news conference. After Dybantsa brought a can of Red Bull to the podium, the moderator asked him to pour it in an unmarked cup or put it away.

Dybantsa did the latter, then took a swig of the energy drink that he has an endorsement deal with. Monster Energy is the official energy drink sponsor of the Big 12.

“Definitely, Red Bull gives you wings, for sure,” Dybantsa said when asked about his preferred postgame beverage.

On a more serious note, Dybantsa thanked Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark for calling him a bonafide national player of the year candidate earlier in the day.

“This is the best league in the world for college basketball and for him to recognize my talents and feel like I should be up there with the best players in the country, it means a lot,” Dybantsa said. “But I mean today I was trying to focus on winning.”

The No. 10 seed Cougars (22-10) claimed their second straight win after dropping three straight and turn their attention to No. 7 seed West Virginia, which had a first-round bye. Tipoff is at 5 p.m. MDT and the game will be televised by ESPN2.

Offensively, BYU played one of its best games of the season. Defensively, there’s still work to do, Young acknowledged.

“Just a hard-fought game, obviously a high-scoring game. They got off to a great start, shooting the heck out of the 3-(pointers),” Young said. “I thought our guys did a good job of responding. I thought that run we made in the first half was critical for us to cut the lead and gain momentum, and then we’re able to get enough stops and string enough stops together there in the second half to get the spread. So it was a good game for us.”

In a seesaw first half that included a big BYU run followed by a big Kansas State run, the difference was the end of the half, as BYU closed out the half on a 7-0 run after the underdog Wildcats took a 49-43 lead and had those in the crowd not wearing royal blue pulling in their direction.

Rob Wright III made a 3-point play, then Dybantsa had a driving dunk. After a K-State player slipped on the newfangled glass floor and lost the ball, Wright stole it and then pulled up to give Dybantsa an easy dunk with two seconds remaining.

Young said that coaches have been “harping on” that kind of unselfishness all season and it was rewarding to watch that sequence of events.

“When you feel like you have a good shot, but your teammate has a great shot, to share the ball there is huge,” Young said.

BYU scored on its first five posses

sions of the second half to get a cushion it would not relinquish.

Aleksej Kostic and Kennard Davis Jr. each buried a pair of 3-pointers and Dybantsa made one of his patented pull-up jumpers. Then Dybantsa took over after a KSU timeout, scoring six straight points for BYU before Davis hit another triple.

https://www.deseret.com/sports/2026/03/10/what-kansas-state-coach-matthew-driscoll-said-after-byu-loss/

Wright finished with 14 points in 28 minutes before leaving the game with a lacerated lip and lost tooth with just under 12 minutes remaining. Against more impressive opponents, BYU might have been in trouble at that point, but guys such as Kostic, Davis, Dominique Diomande and Khadim Mboup rallied in Wright’s absence, and Dybantsa kept doing his thing.

Mboup had his best game as a Cougar, scoring a career-high eight points and grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds in 23 minutes. Diomande added six points and four boards in 16 minutes and played some sticky defense on KSU’s PJ Haggerty, who still scored 27 points.

“In terms of the role guys, just super happy for those guys. Dom is one of those guys. … Aleksej, Moo (Davis), Khadim, they all contributed to the win,” Young said. “The thing I love about it is it has been an up and down season, obviously, but none of those guys have batted an eye. They just stayed in the gym. They stayed hungry. They earned trust … I thought Dom’s play was extremely inspirational for the team, and that’s something we can build on.”

The Cougars improved to 15-0 when leading at halftime this season. They scored a whopping 50 points in the paint, but still made 11 3-pointers, on 32 attempts.