PROVO, Utah — No. 19 BYU concludes its two-game home stand on Tuesday evening, Feb. 24, when the Cougars welcome UCF to the Marriott Center for the second time. Tip is scheduled for 9 p.m. MT.
WHERE TO WATCH Tuesday's game will be broadcast on ESPN2 with Mike Monaco and Miles Simon on the call.
I SAID GOOD(K)NIGHT Tuesday will be the fifth all-time meeting between the two schools. The Cougars are 4-0 all-time against the Knights including a win in the Knights only previous trip to Provo. UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins is 0-6 all-time against BYU during his time at Stanford and UCF.
After playing three times in their first seasons in the Big 12 (all three meetings coming on the 13th day of the month), BYU and UCF only met once during the 2024-25 season which resulted in a 81-75 victory for the Cougars in Orlando. After trailing by two at halftime, BYU outscored UCF 43-35 in the second half to secure their second win at Addition Financial Arena.
Richie Saunders scored a game-high 22 points for the Cougars going 8-of-14 from the field and 6-of-9 from 3-point range. Mawot Mag finished with 19 points and five assists knocking down three of his six 3-point attempts as the Cougars went 14-of-32 from 3-point range.
ROCKED 'EM LIKE A HURRICANE CYCLONE AJ Dybantsa was an assist shy of his second career triple-double as No. 23 BYU defeated No. 6 Iowa State 79-69 on Saturday evening in front of 18,046 fans at the Marriott Center. The win over the Cyclones was the Cougars second win over a ranked opponent this season and first Top 10 win at home since 2020.
Second-year head coach Kevin Young improved to 3-0 against Iowa State with two of those wins coming against the Cyclones when they were ranked in the Top 10 in the AP Poll. The Cougars improved to 28-1 under Young when shooting 50.0 percent from the field as they went 29-of-58 from the field, 7-of-25 from three and 14-of-20 from the free throw line. They also outrebounded the visitors, 39-28, including doubling them up on the offensive glass, 12-6, resulting in 10 second chance points.
Dybantsa finished with a game-high 29 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists as the freshman went 10-of-17 from the field, 2-of-4 from three and 7-of-9 from the free throw line. The 6-foot-9 freshman also held Iowa State's leading scorer, Milan Momcilovic, to five points, shooting 1-of-5 from the field and 1-of-4 from three. Kennard Davis Jr. reached double figures for the eighth time this season as the junior finished with 17 points knocking down three 3-pointers. In his first start at home and third of his career, Mihailo Boskovic scored a career-high 13 points going 5-of-11 from the field, 2-of-8 from three and knocking down his lone free throw.
MOO-VING RIGHT ALONG Following his 17-point performance on Saturday, Kennard Davis Jr. has now scored in double figures in three of his last four games after only reaching double figures in five of his first 20 appearances for the Cougars.
During that stretch that began with BYU ending a four-game losing streak with a win at Baylor, the native of St. Louis is averaging 12.0 points per game shooting 46.7 percent from the field, 29.4 percent from three and 93.8 percent from the free throw line. As mentioned above, he has made nine straight from the charity stripe dating back to the win over Colorado.
KEEPING PACE With 29 points against No. 6 Iowa State, AJ Dybantsa now has 673 points on the season tying him with Chase Fischer for the 12th most points scored in a season in program history as the former sharpshooter achieved the feat in 37 games during the 2015-16 season.
With 27 points on Tuesday, Dybantsa would become the sixth different player in program history to score 700 points in a season. He already owns the freshman scoring record passing Danny Ainge during the Cougars setback at No. 4 Arizona where he finished with 35 points.
He would also become the 20th freshman this century with 700 points in a single season and first non-Duke player to do it in Power 5 conference since Oklahoma's Trae Young scored 876 in his lone season in Norman in 2017-18.
THAT IS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT Keba Keita is rounding into form at the right moment for the Cougars as the senior averaged 6.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 2.0 steals per game last week while shooting 85.7 percent from the field. After going 4-of-4 from the field in the win over Iowa State, Keita has now made five consecutive field goals which is his second-longest streak of the season.
Entering the final four games of the regular season, Keita owns the 13th highest field goal percentage of any NCAA men's basketball player regardless of division.
The native of Bamako, Mali isn't just efficient in the paint but he also denies opponents at the rim as he is tied for the 16th on the all-time blocks list with Mekeli Wesley. His 46 blocks this season are tied for the 12th most in a single season in program history.
JUST THE TWO OF US With Richie Saunders out for the season, AJ Dybantsa and Robert Wright III will look to lead the team offensively as they are on pace to become one of the top scoring duos in program history. With four games remaining in the regular season they have combined to score 1,160 points, 43 away from passing Michael Smith and Jeff Chatman for ninth on the all-time list.
If Dybantsa keeps up his scoring pace, him and Saunders could also move up on the list as they have combined for 1,124 points.
MBOUP THERE IT IS Khadim Mboup tied a career-high with 10 rebounds, three of those coming on the offensive glass in the win over No. 6 Iowa State. The Cougars 4-0 this season when he has double digit boards and 13-2 when he has five or more rebounds.
