PROVO, Utah – BYU’s AJ Dybantsa has been named to the Oscar Robertson Trophy and Wayman Tisdale Award Watchlist, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association announced on Thursday afternoon.
The 6-foot-9 forward is one of 15 members of the Wayman Tisdale Award Midseason Watch List, joined by fellow Big 12 first-year players Brayden Burries and Koa Peat of Arizona, Kingston Flemming of Houston and Darryn Peterson of Kansas.
Since the 1998-99 season, the USBWA has named a men’s freshman national player of the year, and since the 2010-11 season, the award has been named for Wayman Tisdale, the late Oklahoma All-American.
Dybantsa is also one of 25 players named to the Oscar Robertson Trophy Midseason Watch List. The award is handed out annually at the men’s Final Four to the best player in college basketball and has been named after Robertson since the 1997-98 season. Its origin dates back to 1958-59; the Oscar Robertson Trophy is the longest-running POY award in college basketball.
The native of Brockton, Mass. ranks third in the nation in scoring at 23.1 points per game following his 25-point effort in No. 11 BYU’s 76-70 victory over TCU on Wednesday evening at the Marriott Center. It was the 10th straight game that the freshman has scored at least 20 points, making him one of six players in program history to achieve the feat. He also scored in double figures in all 17 games of his collegiate career, which is the fourth-longest streak to begin a career in Big 12 history.
The two-time Big 12 Newcomer of the Week became the second player in Big 12 history to record a 30/10/10 triple-double and first of the points, rebound and assist variety in the Cougars' win over Eastern Washington in their non-conference finale. A game earlier, Dybantsa scored 35 points in a win over Abilene Christian, the second-most scored by a freshman in program history.
Dybantsa and No. 11 BYU return to action on Saturday, Jan. 17, when they face No. 15 Texas Tech in Lubbock. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m CT.