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Years from now, BYU’s matchup with Abilene Christian on Friday will be remembered as the night AJ Dybantsa broke the internet.
Near the end of the first half of what became a 85-67 Cougars win, Rob Wright III clanked a 3-point attempt off the back of the rim. What happened next will be talked about, replayed and revered for as long as basketball is played at BYU.
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Dybantsa, who was behind the 3-point line across the court from where Wright took his shot, darted down to the key and leapt forward.
An opponent stood in his way, but it didn’t matter. Dybantsa took flight anyway, plucking the ball out of the air with one hand before quickly throwing it back down for the slam in a single fluid motion to blow the roof off the Marriott Center.
“I’ll be honest, I’m pretty stoic over there (on the bench) when cool stuff happens just because you’re thinking about the next play. I feel like I’ve seen a lot of plays in my life, but I did react to that one,” BYU head coach Kevin Young said of Dybantsa’s dunk.
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“That was insane. I can’t wait to watch it on film, but what a gifted player, man. That was unbelievable.”
But Dybantsa, who followed his dunk with an intense staredown of the man he posterized, was rather nonchalant postgame regarding his feat, even if some of his modesty may have been a tad bit tongue in cheek.
“That’s probably the best putback I’ve had, other than the one I had last year at Utah Prep. If you’ve all seen that one, that was kind of similar, but (tonight)’s probably like, top 7 all time,” Dybantsa said with a smirk.
But as exhilarating as Dybantsa’s dunk was, the rest of the night had its fair share of anxiety and frustration for the Cougars.
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They didn’t take their first lead until after more than 12 minutes of play, had their advantage cut to just two points midway through the second half and needed a late 13-0 run to finally bury the ultra physical, upstart Abilene Christian squad and secure an…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/analysis-aj-dybantsa-career-scoring-065947568.html
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Publish date : 2025-12-20 06:59:00
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