{"id":260919,"date":"2025-11-04T11:27:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T11:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/260919\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T11:27:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T11:27:09","slug":"a-busy-summer-that-included-observing-wnbas-aces-helped-prepare-byus-aj-dybantsa-for-college-debut-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/260919\/","title":{"rendered":"A busy summer that included observing WNBA\u2019s Aces helped prepare BYU\u2019s AJ Dybantsa for college debut \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 Regarded as one of the nation\u2019s top freshmen, BYU\u2019s AJ Dybantsa already had a pretty good idea of the energy basketball fans in Las Vegas provide as he prepared for his collegiate debut.<\/p>\n

It was over the summer when Dybantsa sat in the front row near center court to see the Las Vegas Aces and felt the vibe at Michelob Ultra Arena inside Mandalay Bay, during what turned out to be the team\u2019s third WNBA championship campaign in four years.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old Dybantsa created his own electricity up the street on Monday night in front of more than 16,000 fans inside T-Mobile Arena \u2014 a majority of whom wore BYU blue \u2014 as he finished with 21 points and six rebounds to lead the eighth-ranked Cougars to a 71-66 win over Villanova in the Hall of Fame Series.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBYU forward AJ Dybantsa smiles after a play during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Villanova, Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo\/Ian Maule)<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that the Aces have a huge fan base, so I wasn\u2019t really actually expecting it to be like what it was, but they show great support, and I love Vegas for that,\u201d Dybantsa said. \u201cWe have BYU fans everywhere, and they show support. It was damn near a home game for us, the amount of fans that were there. So I\u2019m just very grateful for the fans and the Mormon community to show support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dybantsa, who did much of his damage in the second half by scoring 13 points to help fend off Villanova\u2019s late surge, including six points during a 10-0 BYU run that erased a two-point deficit and gave the Cougars a 67-59 lead with 1:50 left.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of the best high school players I\u2019ve seen come out in a long time,\u201d Villanova coach Kevin Willard said. \u201cHe\u2019s the real deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taking over a game is nothing new for Dybantsa, who was named MVP of the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup after leading Team USA to a gold medal in Switzerland in July.<\/p>\n

\u201cUSA always helps,\u201d said Dybantsa, who added that enrolling at BYU in April benefited him, as he was able to become familiar with his future teammates. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to find a role, the practices are super competitive, (so) it definitely helped.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Boston-area native said watching and talking to WNBA MVP A\u2019ja Wilson, NaLyssa Smith and coach Becky Hammon also helped him appreciate a different perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to get more on the WNBA side, definitely,\u201d Dybantsa said. \u201cI mean, they got a lot of talent. A\u2019ja, doing what she\u2019s doing. Just trying to tap in a little bit, get as much knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/college-basketball<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 Regarded as one of the nation\u2019s top freshmen, BYU\u2019s AJ Dybantsa already had a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-260919","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}