KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If there’s one thing to take away from BYU in this Big 12 Tournament is that freshman AJ Dybantsa isn’t to be messed with.
Less than a week after being named Big 12 Freshman of the Year — but not Big 12 Player of the Year — he put together three terrific games for No. 10 seeded BYU as it reached the quarterfinals before losing to No. 2 seed Houston, 73-66.
He had 26 points, five rebounds and two assists against Houston, which qualified as his most “pedestrian” game of the tournament. He had 40 points in the opener against Kansas State, which set a new Big 12 Tournament freshman record. Then he had 27 points against West Virginia in the second round.
With 93 points in three games, he broke the Big 12 Tournament record for most points in a single tournament, which was held by Kevin Durant with 92 points.
Houston Respects AJ
Everyone’s focus is on the country’s most productive freshman every night. Houston was no exception. It threw everything at him, including forward Joseph Tugler, who defended him at various times. Without Richie Saunders, who is out with an ACL tear, the attention only grows, both from defenders and from basketball fans.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson saw the NBA’s best while an assistant coach in the NBA. He said that Dybantsa has the “bucket gene.”
“I don’t think you can teach that,” he said. “There are a lot of shooters who can’t score and there are scorers who can’t shoot. You can see by the way that the ball comes off his fingers that he’s an elite shooter. He’s tougher than people give him credit for.”
AJ Dybantsa’s Toughness on Display
For all the praise Dybantsa gets as a scorer, the past few weeks have shown the country a different side of him. He is tough. He’s handles contact and knows how to turn those into free throws (he went 9-of-10 from the free throw line on Thursday). His effort level is high, and it has been all season. But, when you average more than 25 points per game, that sometimes gets lost.
It shouldn’t. He’s played every game for BYU this season and absorbed the attention — and the punishment — with little complaint.
“He can do everything that you want a player to do on a court,” BYU coach Kevin Young said. “He played a great offensive game. He should have gotten 40 again tonight. His combination of size, skill, mental capacity and it factor.”
He’s had to carry this team on his back. He’s gotten help from guard Robert Wright III, who had 15 points on Thursday. BYU needs more from players like Kennard Davis Jr. and Aleksej Kostic more consistently. But it’s also too late in the season to develop talent. Either it can step up consistently or it can’t.
That’s why the freshman, who will likely head to the NBA after the NCAA Tournament is complete, isn’t done carrying this team. He’s one of the few players in the country that can put a team on his back for an entire game.
BYU in March
So, BYU is worth watching in this NCAA Tournament if for no other reason than the entertainment value of watching Dybantsa try to lead the Cougars on what would be a rather improbable run out of the first weekend of the tournament. It may not happen. But, what if it does? The Big 12 Tournament may have been the boost BYU needed.
“We needed extra games under our belt, so we were happy to win the first two games, and our identity is resiliency,” Dybantsa said. “No one in the country plays as hard as Houston does and we ‘ve played them twice. So that kind of feedback is going to help us in the tournament.”
This this will have become a great season for BYU for many reasons, not the least of which being home base for one of the greatest freshman seasons in Big 12 history, a reputation Dybantsa only enhanced at T-Mobile Center.
