{"id":436470,"date":"2026-01-25T12:02:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T12:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/436470\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T12:02:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T12:02:12","slug":"dybantsa-sets-byu-freshman-scoring-record-as-cougars-cruise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/436470\/","title":{"rendered":"Dybantsa sets BYU freshman scoring record as Cougars cruise"},"content":{"rendered":"

PROVO, Utah — AJ Dybantsa<\/a> scored 43 points to break BYU<\/a>‘s freshman scoring record, leading the No. 13 Cougars to a 91-78 victory<\/a> over Utah<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

He went 15-for-24 from the floor and 9-for-10 from the free throw line for his first 40-point game. Dybantsa, who surpassed Danny Ainge<\/a>‘s record for points in a game by a BYU freshman, added six rebounds, three assists and blocked a shot.<\/p>\n

“It feels good to break any record — if it was Danny’s or not,” Dybantsa said. “I just thank my teammates for just giving me the ball in the right spots. God was on my side. I was hitting shots.”<\/p>\n

He also added to a memorable day for some of the nation’s top first-year players. Dybantsa became the third player on an Associated Press-ranked team to eclipse 40 points Saturday. According to ESPN Research, it was just the third time that has happened on a single day, joining Feb. 10, 1990, and Feb. 23, 1970.<\/p>\n

“He is a generational talent and he showed what he’s capable of tonight,” Utah coach Alex Jensen said of Dybantsa. “There’s no telling how good he can get.”<\/p>\n

Rob Wright III finished with 21 points, and Richie Saunders<\/a> added 12 to help the Cougars (17-2, 5-1 Big 12) bounce back from an 84-71 loss to Texas Tech a week earlier. BYU shot 60% in the second half to pull away in its final test before facing No. 1 Arizona on Monday.<\/p>\n

Keanu Dawes<\/a> led Utah with 23 points and six rebounds. Terrence Brown<\/a> chipped in 22 points, and Don McHenry<\/a> added 16 for the Utes (9-11, 1-6), who shot 62% from 3-point range.<\/p>\n

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Dybantsa drove for a layup to cap a 14-3 run that gave BYU a 69-56 lead with 9:56 left. Saunders fueled the run with back-to-back layups and a pair of free throws over three straight possessions.<\/p>\n

Dybantsa scored four baskets over five possessions — a dunk and three 3-pointers — to extend the Cougars’ lead to 87-68 with 3:12 left.<\/p>\n

McHenry had four baskets to fuel a 16-7 spurt that put Utah up 28-26 with 6:56 left in the first half. The Utes made seven straight baskets to erase a seven-point deficit after starting 0-for-7 from the field.<\/p>\n

BYU scored on four of its final six possessions to take a 42-37 halftime lead. Dybantsa started and ended the run with baskets.<\/p>\n

“He’s hands down the clear-cut No. 1 pick in the NBA draft upcoming and it was on display tonight,” BYU coach Kevin Young said. “He was doing it every which way.”<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PROVO, Utah — AJ Dybantsa scored 43 points to break BYU‘s freshman scoring record, leading the No. 13…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-436470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}