Analysis: BYU’s evolving identity on full display in 68-48 romp over West Virginia

KANSAS CITY — Eleven days ago, the then-ranked BYU Cougars were “punked,” in the words of coach Kevin Young, in a puzzling loss at West Virginia.

Coming on the heels of a blowout loss at home to UCF, it felt like the 2025-26 season had hit rock bottom for Young’s crew. But it hadn’t. Three days later, BYU lost by 22 points at Cincinnati, and prospects for a decent postseason run looked dim.

But the Cougars have suddenly rattled off three straight wins, most recently Wednesday night’s 68-48 romp over that same WVU team that beat them 79-71 in Morgantown by simply out-hustling the favored Cougars at Hope Coliseum.

“It feels like we are a completely different team,” center Keba Keita said after AJ Dybantsa turned in another magnificent outing — 27 points, seven rebounds and three assists — and the Cougars held the Mountaineers to their lowest scoring output of the season.

Forty-eight points is also the fewest scored against BYU this year.

Welcome to the new-look Cougars, who a night ago scored a season-high 105 points in a free-wheeling 14-point win over Kansas State. Just like Dybantsa has many ways to make buckets, BYU has found new ways to win in March, when it matters the most.

“We just played them 10 days ago, we felt like we left a lot to be desired in that game,” Young said. “I thought our guys came out with a 40-minute effort and had a will to win that was kind of unmatched.”

It was reminiscent of that game that turned it all around last Saturday, the 82-76 conquest of No. 10 Texas Tech in which BYU simply imposed its will on an overmatched team playing without its star, JT Toppin.

What has gotten into these guys?

“We took that loss at their place personal, and we came out tonight and just overpowered them,” said Keita, who blocked a couple of shots and had seven rebounds and four points.

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The Cougars held WVU to just 16 field goals — Dybantsa had 11 baskets on his own — after giving up 15 second-chance points in Morgantown. Turns out, that strategy of throwing anything at the rim and then chasing down the caroms for easy putbacks a la San Diego State has its limitations. Wednesday, those bricks fell into the hands of the Cougars.

West Virginia shot 36.4% from the field, BYU 46%.

“You saw (that will to win) in a lot of different areas as far as the rebounding (35-30) and how active our defense was,” Young said. “I thought our defense was tremendous tonight, arguably the best it has been all year.”

It was the first time in two months that BYU has won three straight games. More importantly, the run at T-Mobile Center in the Big 12 tournament has shown that Young has righted the ship after the loss of Richie Saunders.

That excuse is now out the window. Lofty expectations are back, although No. 2 seed Houston — which BYU has never defeated in a Big 12 game — now stands in the way. The blue Cougars meet the red Cougars in a quarterfinal game on Thursday at 5 p.m. MDT on ESPN2.

Indeed, BYU (23-10) has a somewhat new identity in the post-Saunders era, and it is being redirected by guys such as Dominique Diomande and Khadim Mboup — and their defense. They are lanky, athletic dudes who take offense to being scored upon. They play with an edge on defense and chase loose balls with abandon.

Diomande and Mboup played about 15 minutes each and combined for nine rebounds and three steals. It was exactly what Young needed out of them.

“It was definitely something that we can look at moving forward as a benchmark for how good our defense can be,” Young said.

BYU forced 14 turnovers in the first half and finished with 22 takeaways, scoring 17 points off those turnovers. In Morgantown, WVU committed just eight turnovers all game.

“Those two guys are dogs, naturally,” Young said. “I think it inspires the rest of the group.”

At one point, BYU had attempted 50 shots to WVU’s 33.

The thing is, BYU should never have lost to WVU in Morgantown. It was a fluky game that saw Dybantsa and Rob Wright combine for 14 of 30 shooting and 43 points. But those superstars got little help.

Times have changed in Provo, out of necessity as much as anything else. In particular, Southern Illinois transfer Kennard Davis Jr. has finally come alive and shown that promise of a two-way player that accompanied him out of Carbondale, Ill.

With some courtside BYU fans — no, not Andy Reid, who was on the other side of the court and next to the Cougars’ bench — urging him to shoot almost every time he touched the ball, Davis delivered one of his best games of the season.

The 6-6 junior scored a season-high 20 points on 7 of 11 shooting (5 of 6 from 3-point range) and combined with Wright and Aleksej Kostic to play some lockdown defense on WVU’s Honor Huff, who was a frosty 3 of 13.

Davis has made nine of his last 11 3-point attempts.

Davis was so “locked in,” he said, that he didn’t notice the Kansas City Chiefs coach near the BYU bench — Reid is a BYU graduate — nor quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the crowd.

Of course, BYU still has Dybantsa and Wright, the cornerstones from Day One. As long as those two are on the floor, the Cougars will be able to score points. Dybantsa fought off some early no-calls to post another solid game — not the 40-point effort he had against K-State, but fairly close.

Wright was more of a facilitator than usual, posting six assists and 11 points a night after leaving the first-round game early with a lacerated lip and loosened tooth.

“Rob is one tough dude,” Davis said.

How BYU plays against No. 5-ranked and well-rested Houston (26-5) should go along way in telling showing how it will play in the NCAA Tournament, and whether it can repeat last year’s run.

Yes, expectations have been dampened with the loss of Dawson Baker and now Saunders, so a reasonable goal right now is the Sweet 16. The Cougars have come a long way in a short amount of time, a credit to Young’s ability to adjust and try a different approach.

“I personally had to look myself in the mirror after that East Coast trip,” Young said. “Actually, it was the trifecta — it was the UCF game and then the trip out East against Cincy and West Virginia. It was a dark moment for our season. I just had to figure it out. We have too much talent. … We took it back to the basics and we just dumbed it down with our defense, got a lot less coachy.”

And a lot more balanced, on both ends of the court.