NEW YORK — Rob Wright III’s game-winning three and AJ Dybantsa’s 28-point effort sealed the comeback win for BYU over Clemson 67-64 Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
ROB WRIGHT III WINS IT AT THE BUZZER FOR #10 BYU!! pic.twitter.com/OvgUsZ90SW
— NCAA Buzzer Beaters & Game Winners (@NCAABuzzerBters) December 10, 2025
Each half told a completely different story for the Cougars. The Tigers jumped out to a 21-point lead at half which included a 21-0 run to close the final seven minutes of the first half.
"I thought it was just the look in their eye got different," head coach Kevin Young said. "I thought we were kind of blank and a little lifeless in the first half, honestly. I challenged the guys to come out more with a competitive spirit. I thought it showed its head more on the glass. They hurt us quite a bit.That's a big, strong physical team. I thought our guys responded, just our trench warfare mentality was much better in the second half."
The Cougar scoring drought lasted eight and a half minutes. From then onward, BYU outscored Clemson 45-21 in the second half to claw back into the game, and Wright III called game on a game-winning buzzer beater three from the right wing to secure the victory. That was three of Wright III's 17 points, including 12 points in the second-half comeback. Along with the scoring outburst, the Cougar defense held Clemson to 25.9 percent shooting from the field while forcing eight turnovers.
Dybantsa recorded 28 points, 22 of those coming in the second half, to go along with nine rebounds and six assists for the game. All of those numbers are a career-high mark for Dybantsa.
First Half
In the first Cougar possession, Dybantsa got the scoring started with a left-corner three off a Keba Keita kick out from an offensive board. Dybantsa went on to hit a pull-up mid-range two minutes later to push BYU ahead 7-3. Clemson responded to tie it up at 7-7 going into a media timeout.
Defense led to offense on the Cougars’ next couple baskets. With 15:30 remaining, Saunders stole it and finished it at the other, then Kennard Davis Jr. took it away and had his own fastbreak layup four possessions later to make it 11-9 BYU.
The next several minutes featured both teams trading buckets and trading leads. A Wright III left wing 3-pointer on a Davis Jr. swing pass with seven minutes to go made it 22-22, the eighth tie of the half with three lead changes to that point.
BYU was unable to score against the Tiger defense the rest of the half. Clemson finished the half on a 21-0 run thanks to four three-pointers from the Tigers in that run. The 43-22 halftime deficit is the largest deficit the Cougars have had this season.
Second Half
After a Tiger free throw extended the Clemson lead to 22, the Cougars woke up from their slumber. Dybantsa and Wright III traded field goals with one another to cut the margin to 11 with 14:22 left in regulation. The Tiger lead was brought to single digits after an emphatic steal and slam by Keita to make the score 47-38 Clemson eight minutes into the half.
BYU’s run would not stop there as back-to-back paint baskets from Dybantsa increased the Cougar run to 20-3 to open the half. Wright III’s isolation layup plus two free throws and a layup by Dybantsa shrunk the Tiger lead to one, 52-51, and forced a Clemson timeout with five minutes to go.
Out of the timeout, Dybantsa continued his take over, as he dished a lefty pass to Keita inside for a dunk then threw a lob to him on the next possession to give BYU its first lead since 17-15 with 9:14 left in the first half. Davis Jr. then drained a left-wing three off a Dybantsa kick out to force another Tiger timeout. The score became 58-54, Cougars, with two-and-a-half minutes remaining.
BYU LEADS 👀👀🔥pic.twitter.com/xZ55tirc7Q
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) December 10, 2025
Another Dybantsa to Keita alley-oop and a Dybantsa driving dunk extended the BYU lead to six. Up to that point, Dybantsa had scored or assisted on 34 of the Cougars’ 40 second-half points amidst their run. Clemson countered the Cougar attack with back-to-back threes and a contested, game-tying layup to bring the game to 64 apiece with five seconds left.
this angle of AJ’s dunk 👀 pic.twitter.com/1DiMiSOwu1
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) December 10, 2025
After getting the ball across midcourt prior to a timeout with 1.3 seconds left, Mihailo Boskovic inbounded the ball to Wright III who knocked down a leaning, double-clutch three at the buzzer to walk it off for BYU, 67-64.