PROVO, Utah — The No. 13 Cougars nearly erased a 19-point deficit before falling 86-83 to the No. 1 Wildcats on Monday night at the Marriott Center.
Despite being down 19 with 10:53 left in the second half, the Cougars engineered a late comeback surge, eventually making it a one point game with 16 seconds left. Ten 3-pointers on 50 percent shooting in the second half wouldn’t be enough to seal the comeback.
“We were down 10 with a minute to go, which is insane," head coach Kevin Young said." "But it says a lot about our team, the fight. We spent a lot of time on situational things. I thought we executed about as good as you can to overcome that type of deficit. So there’s a lot of things we can take away from that. We can put that in our memory bank of experience. That’s obviously positive.”
The second half comeback try was powered by Kennard Davis Jr., who went 5-of-5 from 3-point range in the second frame en route to 15 points.
Richie Saunders finished with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, alongside three 3-pointers. The senior added nine rebounds, two assists and one steal.
For the 14th time this season, AJ Dybantsa reached the 20-point range with his 24 points. The Brockton, Mass. product added five assists, four rebounds and one steal.
First Half
The teams traded 3-pointers and jumpers early, keeping the score tied at seven. Saunders put BYU ahead with a 3-ball, but back-to-back Cougar turnovers led to four Arizona points, giving the Wildcats an 11-10 lead with 15:55 on the clock.
Dybantsa drew fouls on consecutive possessions to keep it within one. BYU’s defense responded, securing defensive boards and holding Arizona scoreless on five-straight possessions. A Mihailo Boskovic block followed by a 3-pointer helped the Cougars regain the lead heading into the media timeout.
The defensive momentum continued as BYU held Arizona without a basket for more than five minutes. The Wildcats answered with a 6-2 run, but Dybantsa knocked down a jumper to tie the game at 24 with 7:25 left in the half.
Arizona then used a 12-1 run over just more than three minutes, fueled by BYU turnovers, to take a 36-27 lead with 3:47 remaining. Turnovers continued to haunt the Cougars as the Wildcats scored six straight points to extend the margin. Boskovic hit a jumper late, but Arizona carried a 44-31 lead into the locker room.
Second Half
Wright III opened the half with an in-the-paint jumper, then grabbed the defensive rebound on the Wildcats’ next possession. He assisted Davis Jr. on a three, and less than a minute later he knocked another from the wing to cut the deficit to seven.
BYU held Arizona scoreless for nearly three minutes as Dybantsa scored four straight points on a pull-up jumper and a dunk. The Wildcats responded with a 9-0 run, led by Tobe Awaka, to extend the lead to 19 with 10:53 remaining.
splits the d. throws it down.
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) January 27, 2026
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Davis Jr. and Aleksej Kostic combined for three 3-pointers over five possessions, two set up by Dybantsa. With 7:22 on the clock, Saunders added another step-back triple to cap the flurry from deep
Dybantsa later found Davis Jr. for another three, but Jaden Bradley answered immediately to snap Arizona’s nearly four-minute field goal drought.
The St. Louis, Mo. product hit his fifth 3-pointer of the night to trim the margin to 10, the lowest since 13:33 in the second half. A foul called on Saunders sent Koa Peat to the charity line, but he missed both, giving BYU the ball with 2:11 remaining.
Saunders buried a wing 3-pointer to pull BYU within seven. Fouls on consecutive possessions sent Arizona to the line for four points before BYU called a timeout with 1:11 left.
Dybantsa was fouled and made one of two free throws, but Saunders snatched the rebound and then Wright III drilled a 3-ball to keep the deficit at seven. On the next possession, Keba Keita scored on a second-chance layup and was fouled. He wasn’t able to convert the 3-point play, and a scramble for the rebound resulted in a Flagrant 1 foul on Ivan Kharchenkov, sending Dybantsa to the line with 37 seconds left.
The freshman converted both free throws. Wright III then fouled Brayden Burries, who made one of two. With 21 seconds left, Wright III found Keita for an alley-oop dunk to make it a three-point game. An offensive foul on Arizona followed, and Keita made a layup to make it a one-point game. Wright III forced a turnover with 12 seconds left, but his potential go-ahead jumper was blocked. The Wildcats sealed the game at the free throw line, securing an 86-83 victory.
Up Next
The Cougars will travel to Lawrence, Kan. on Saturday, Jan. 31 for a Top-15 matchup against the No. 14 Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse, with tip scheduled for 2:30 p.m. MST. Watch broadcast live on ESPN or listen to live play-by-play with Greg Wrubell on BYU Radio.