BYU opens the Big 12 tournament with a victory.
The Cougars routed lowly Kansas State 105-91 Tuesday in Kansas City, earning the chance to play West Virginia in the tournament’s second round on Wednesday.
3 takeaways
AJ Dybantsa dominated. On Monday, it was announced that Arizona’s Jaden Bradley won Big 12 Player of the Year over Dybantsa.
Based on how he played on Tuesday, it appears Dybantsa took the snub personally.
The freshman phenom scored 40 points, notching the second-ever 40-point game in Big 12 tournament history and breaking Kevin Durant’s event record for most points by a freshman.
It was Dybantsa’s second 40-point outing at BYU, having dropped 43 points on rival Utah back in January.
Against Kansas State, Dybantsa also grabbed nine rebounds, dished out six assists and finished with a plus/minus of +25 in 37 minutes on the floor, shooting 15 for 21 from the field with two made triples and eight free throws.
Two dominant stretches made the difference for BYU. With just under 90 seconds left to play in the first half, the Cougars trailed 49-43, only to rattle off seven unanswered points and swipe the lead back just before halftime.
Such a swing continued at the start of the second half, as BYU quickly jumped to an 11-point lead upon orchestrating a 25-8 run across six minutes of total gameplay.
Kansas State eventually cut the deficit to three, following which the Cougars posted a 28-8 stretch to put the game away for good, win by double figures and give their starters an early exit to rest for Wednesday.
BYU’s offense was humming. Dybantsa led a historic charge for the Cougars, who set a Big 12 tournament record with 105 points on the night.
Before Tuesday, only one Big 12 team had ever crossed the 100-point threshold in a conference tournament game — Kansas all the way back in 2002.
Kevin Young’s crew shot 55% from the field and hit 11 3-pointers, averaging 1.4 points per possession in all.
Aside from Dybantsa’s 40-piece, Kennard Davis Jr., Rob Wright III and Aleksej Kostic each scored between 15 and 11 points, while Khadim Mboup added eight points and 14 rebounds as well.
Dominique Diomande, Keba Keita and Mihailo Boskovic also chipped in a combined 17 points on 8 of 13 shooting.
BYU scored 50 points in the paint, 22 in transition, 18 off of turnovers and 19 in second chance opportunities.
Every aspect of the Cougars’ operation was clicking, and now they’ll have a short turnaround to continue such momentum in Wednesday’s second round action against West Virginia.