BYU went to Lincoln and lost a tight 90-89 game to the Cornhuskers Saturday. Andrej Kostic and Jared McGregor missed shots in the final seconds that would have given BYU the win. BYU treated this like
a NBA preseason game, and it showed with the lineup combinations in the second half. In the final two minutes Kevin Young with his end-of-bench lineup, which shows you how much he cared about winning this game.
BYU was up 50-46 at halftime and ended the half on a 10-0 run behind renewed defensive focus and a outburst from AJ Dybantsa, who had 19 points in the first half. BYU didn’t play Rob Wright in the second half and sparingly used Keba Keita, and Nebraksa did a nice job exploiting that and came up with the exhibition victory.
Overall it was great to see this team in action, although it’s hard to draw many conclusions to the number of lineup combinations, especially in the second half. Below are some of my takeaways. BYU next plays North Carolina Friday night in Salt Lake City on ESPN+.
- AJ Dybantsa is special. BYU’s prized freshman was as good as advertised. AJ played 32 minutes and finished with 30 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steaks, and 1 block on 10-19 shooting from the field and 8-8 from the foul line. He didn’t force much and KY did a great job putting him in sets for him to pressure the defense. AJ is the real deal and can win the Wooden Award if he plays like he did today.
- Rob Wright in an elite point guard. BYU sat Wright in the second half, but Rob put a ton of pressure on Nebraska’s defense when he was in. Wright finished with 8 points and 5 assists, including 4-4 from the foul line. Wright got the rim seemingly at will and looks every bit like a potential First-Team All Big 12 player.
- Khadim Mboup is an x-factor. Mboup redshirted last season after joining mid-year, and 6-foot-9 freshman backed up the offseason hype I’ve heard. Mboup finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds in 17 minutes and led BYU with a +/- of 11. Mboup can play the 3 through 5 positions and impact the game so much with his motor and ability to extend plays with putbacks and tips. Mboup will be one of BYU’s most reliable players off the bench.
- Richie Saunders did not look comfortable. Saunders pressed too much in his first action as BYU’s clear secondary option behind AJ. This is obviously is just one game, but Richie forced the issue too much and had 4 turnovers that came from him trying to do too much. Richie finished with 11 points and 3-10 from distance. I’m not worried about Richie finding his groove, but it wasn’t a great day for him.
- BYU gave up too many open threes. The Cornhuskers shot a blistering 16-34 from three and scored 25 points in the first 7 minutes of the second half. Those 25 points came without Keba Keita on the court, but BYU gave up too many open looks. Defense is arguably the main question for this team, and this team will need to prove that they are improved defensively if they want to win at a high level.
- BYU played with a ton of lineup combinations. If this was a regular season game I have no doubt BYU would have won. BYU led by as many as 10 in the first half and went into halftime up 4 when both teams were playing starter heavy minutes. Credit to Nebraska — they played better than BYU in the second half and can use this game as a big confidence boost. But Kevin Young clearly treated this like a NBA preseason game in the second half to give different guys and lineup combinations different run. BYU in crunch time went with a lineup of Xavion Staton, Mihailo Boskovic, Khadim Mboup, Jared McGregor, and Andrej Kostic.
- BYU held out 4 players. BYU held out Dawson Baker, Brody Kozlowski, Tyler Mrus, and Nate Pickens. Dawson and Pickens will for sure factor into the rotation, and Mrus and Kozlowski will get their opportunities as well.
