Cougars get another shot at West Virginia in Big 12 tournament’s second round

KANSAS CITY — Long after his show-stopping performance led No. 10 seed BYU to a 105-91 win over No. 15 seed Kansas State in a Big 12 tournament first-round game Tuesday night, freshman AJ Dybantsa was the topic of the day in college sports.

Scoring a tournament freshman record 40 points, on 15-of-21 shooting, will do that for a teenager. Dybantsa also added nine rebounds, six assists and three steals as the Cougars improved to 3-2 in Big 12 tournament games in their three years in the conference.The question now is, what will Dybantsa and his teammates do for an encore?

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It won’t take long to find out.

The 22-10 Cougars will face No. 7 seed West Virginia (18-13) at 5 p.m. MDT Wednesday at T-Mobile Center in a second-round game for the right to move on to face No. 2 seed Houston on Thursday. The game has been moved from ESPNU to ESPN2, perhaps because of the way Dybantsa thrilled the country on Tuesday.

According to OptaSTATS, Dybantsa is the only Division I player in this century to have a game that included 40 or more points, five or more rebounds, five or more assists, three or more steals and 70% or better shooting with no fouls.

Wednesday morning, Dybantsa was named to the 2025-26 The Sporting News All-America First Team, along with Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg, Duke’s Cameron Boozer, Iowa State’s Joshua Jefferson and Darius Acuff Jr. of Arkansas.

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Arizona’s Jaden Bradley, the Big 12 Player of the Year, made the third team. In his address to the media Tuesday morning, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said Dybantsa — not Bradley — should be considered for National Player of the Year honors.

“I mean, it is an honor for him to be the Big 12 commissioner (and say that),” Dybantsa said. “I feel like this is the best league in the world for college basketball. And for him to recognize my talents and think I should be up there (as) one of the best players in the country, this means a lot.”

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) is fouled by Kansas…

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Publish date : 2026-03-11 17:30:00

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