Dybantsa fills stat sheet as No. 10 BYU rolls past UC Riverside 100-53

The freshman nearly recorded a triple-double with his 26 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and five steals.

Author Halle Taylor
Dybantsa fills stat sheet as No. 10 BYU rolls past UC Riverside 100-53Dybantsa fills stat sheet as No. 10 BYU rolls past UC Riverside 100-53
Box Score

Provo, Utah — Behind AJ Dybantsa’s game-high 26 points, No. 10 BYU defeated UC Riverside 100-53 on Saturday night at the Marriott Center.

Dybantsa led the Cougars with 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting. The freshman narrowly missed a triple-double, finishing with eight rebounds and seven assists to go along with five steals and a block. His five steals ar tied for the second-most by a freshman in program history.

“The kid’s good, man," head coach Kevin Young said. "Everyone feeds off him. I like the chemistry that I’m seeing along with this dynamic, that’s really like the Holy Grail. The size, the handle, the IQ, the athleticism, it’s the total package. It’s hard to coach it. There’s not many players like that in the world of basketball, regardless of age. I’m super glad that he’s on our team. We all get to see it on a night in, night out basis.”

Richie Saunders was a force in the first half, tying a career-high with 15 points before the break. The senior finished with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting and added five rebounds and two assists.

Aleksej Kostic went 5-of-8 from beyond the arc to score a career-high 15 points. He knocked down three 3-pointers in a span of less than two minutes midway through the first half.

BYU’s bench contributed a season-high 36 points, led by Kostic and Khadim Mboup. The Dakar, Senegal native recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

The Cougars shot 59.1 percent from the field and 47.4 percent from 3-point range while reaching the 100-point mark. BYU’s 100 points marked a season high and the second 100-point performance of the Kevin Young era.

First Half
Saunders sparked an early 12-5 lead for the Cougars. The senior scored on a layup 15 seconds into the game, and after a UC Riverside basket, connected on back-to-back possessions with a second-chance jumper and a corner three. Keba Keita added a jumper to extend the lead to seven, and on BYU’s next chance, Saunders drained another 3-ball with 16:10 to go.

After a contested Dybantsa dunk, the Cougars faced a drought from the field for over three minutes until Robert Wright III knocked one down from the top of the key. Saunders and Wright III each added a layup to go up 23-12.

Kostic came off the bench and scored the Cougars’ next nine points, knocking down three 3-pointers in less than two minutes. Dybantsa and Wright III capped the run to extend the lead to 21 with under six minutes left in the half.

Led by BJ Kolly, UC Riverside used a 7-2 run to trim the deficit, but Saunders, Wright III and Dybantsa answered with a 7-2 run of their own to maintain the advantage.

Dybantsa blocked a late Highlander jumper, and after another defensive stop, Saunders assisted the Brockton, Mass. native on a basket. UC Riverside closed the half with a layup, sending BYU into the break with a 49-32 lead.

The Cougars hit six 3-pointers in the first half and shot 66.7 percent from beyond the arc. BYU also shot 60 percent from the field in the opening half.

Second Half
Neither team scored for the first 1:36 of the half until Dybantsa finished off the glass. The Highlanders answered with a 3-pointer from wing, but Dybantsa responded with another layup after securing an offensive rebound.

Following a media timeout, Kennard Davis Jr. converted a three-point play on an and-one jumper to spark a 17-0 run. After a Highlander turnover, Richie Saunders knocked down a jumper in the paint. Keita pulled down a defensive rebound, and Dybantsa found Kostic for his fourth 3-pointer of the night. Kostic grabbed the rebound on the ensuing possession and returned the favor to Keita for a dunk off a Dybantsa assist, forcing a UC Riverside timeout with 13:38 remaining.

Out of the timeout, Dybantsa scored on a second-chance jumper. On the Highlanders’ next possession, Dybantsa recorded a steal and fed Mboup for a dunk. The freshman then secured a defensive rebound on the following possession and capped the run to extend the lead to 71-37 with 12:22 on the clock.

The senior-freshman duo of Saunders and Dybantsa fueled a 12-3 run in just over two minutes. Dybantsa found Saunders for a dunk before recording another steal and hitting Saunders in the paint, who returned the pass to Dybantsa for an alley-oop. Mboup grabbed a steal on the next Highlander possession and finished a fast-break layup. After a UC Riverside basket, Mboup added another layup to give BYU a 41-point advantage.

The bench extended the lead with an 8-3 run, highlighted by an alley-oop from Dominique Diomande and jumpers from Mihailo Boskovic and Mboup.

BYU’s second unit kept the momentum going with back-to-back 3-pointers from Boskovic and Kostic. After a Highlander basket, Mboup finished at the rim as BYU closed out a 100-53 victory.

Up Next
The Cougars return to the Marriott Center on Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. MST for a matchup against the Pacific Tigers. Watch live on ESPN+ or listen to live play-by-play with Greg Wrubell on BYU Radio.

Notes&Quotes
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