It was opening night for men’s and women’s Big 12 basketball around the world. Yes, around the world.
While two of the Big 12’s best teams — and two of its best freshmen — were debuting in Las Vegas, the Baylor women were in Paris to square off with Duke. It was an opening night chock full of baseball and three spotlight games for the league, all of which got national showcases.
Here is what we learned about Big 12 basketball on Nov. 3.
For Peat’s Sake
Get used to that pun this season. Koa Peat, one of Arizona’s highly touted freshmen, dropped 30 points on No. 3 Florida as No. 13 Arizona upended the defending national champion Gators, 93-87.
Peat shot 11-of-18 from the floor and 8-of-12 from the free-throw line. He had seven rebounds, five assists and three steals in 36 minutes. It was one of the best debuts in Arizona history. He had a great all-around game, but it’s this kind of stuff that’s going to draw attention.
For all the talk about BYU’s A.J. Dybansta — and it’s well-deserved — Peat was one of the best freshmen coming out of high school this season. It’s not a surprise he made an impact. The depth of the impact on opening night might be a surprise.
Peat opened up the floor for guard Jaden Bradley, who dumped in 27 points and only turned the ball over three times running the point. Ivan Kharchenkov IV had a double-double — 12 points and 10 rebounds. Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd went big with his starting lineup to counter Florida’s size, including holdover center Motiejus Kirvas.
That’s what stuck out to me — the versatility in this lineup. Lloyd has a roster that can counter big teams like Florida and smaller teams that would force him to go with three or four guards and use athletic forward Tobe Awaka as the starter. That versatility, combined with the dominance of players like Peat and Bradley, is going to be hard to beat.
Oh, and Arizona needs to work on press break. Gotta get on that back in Tucson.
Hello, A.J.
The second game in Las Vegas was Villanova against BYU, which meant we got out first look at the No. 1 freshman in the country, A.J. Dybansta.
The No. 8 Cougars beat the Wildcats, 71-66, with Dybansta finishing with 21 points, six rebounds and three assists. Maybe not quite as flashy as Peat. But he showed off the overall game that we’ve heard the BYU coaching staff and other analysts rave about this offseason.
It seems unreasonable that could be defended by anyone. That was a big clutch basket down the stretch that the Cougars needed to secure the win.
The problem for BYU on Monday wasn’t freshman jitters. It was Villanova taking control of the pace of the game, getting the Cougars out of the transition game it wanted to play, along with Wildcats guard Bryce Lindsey, who got red hot in the second half from the 3-point line after scoring just three points in the first 20 minutes. He finished with 22 points. It turned a potential blowout into a compelling game going into the final minutes.
BYU flipped it after the under-4 timeout in the second half. The Cougars went on a 10-0 run to take a seven-point lead. Dybantsa played a role. But so did transfer guard Robert Wright and so did big man Keba Keita, who set terrific screens and was great at the rim late in the game.
Wright had 14 points but just one assist. Richie Saunders added 15 points with seven rebounds. Keita had eight points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. And, frankly, his performance was even more important than the stats he put up.
BYU’s depth wasn’t on display. Only seven Cougars scored and there is more talent on the roster. The next couple of months is about BYU developing that talent so coach Kevin Young can lean into a couple of more players once Big 12 play begins.
Baylor Balls Out in Paris
When I talked to Baylor women’s coach Nicki Collen at Big 12 media days much of what we talked about was the trip to Paris. The Bears headed to the City of Light four days early, toured the town, hit the U.S. Ambassador’s house and then played Duke. It was a Top 25 matchup to start the season and Collen joked that she didn’t know who the opponent would be when she agreed to the game.
Well, Duke was a bit short-handed, down two players due to injury. The No. 16 Bears beat the No. 7 Blue Devils, 58-52, even as Baylor missed nine of its last 10 shots and didn’t have a field goal in the final 3:25 of the game.
Collen said last month that she went into the portal to get scoring. That was highlighted by Taliah Scott, the former Auburn star who has tantalizing talent but was unable to stay healthy last season. She averaged 20.3 points in three games before the injury and later transferred to Baylor.
She led the Bears with 24 points. With a scorer like Scott on the floor, it could be freeing to the rest of the offense, especially last year’s focal point, Darianna Littlepage-Buggs. She did have a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
It wasn’t a balanced effort for Baylor. Scott and Littlepage-Buggs were the only double-digit scorers, and the team shot 31.7% from the floor. But it got the job done in what was a huge opportunity for the Bears to make a statement on opening day. And they did.
Stealing Buy Games
Utah women’s coach Gavin Peterson went just a bit viral after Monday’s win over Sioux Falls, a Division II team. Sioux Falls wasn’t on the original schedule. But, the intended opponent, San Diego State, dropped out of its schedule game with Utah after it received a better offer from UCLA, which bought out the game contract. On3’s Talia Goodman snagged the video of Peterson, well, calling it out.
I asked several women’s coaches about scheduling during last year’s media days and some told me stories about mid-major programs bidding high-major programs against one another to get the best deal possible. One of those coaches was Peterson’s predecessor, Lynne Roberts, who now coaches the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.
In other words, this happens more than you think. Peterson is wisely calling out the practice.
