‘A microcosm of our season’: BYU’s first-round loss to Texas in the NCAAs looked eerily familiar

PORTLAND, Ore. — Of all the interesting stats that emerged out of BYU’s ultimately disappointing 2025-26 college basketball season, a season that ended Thursday night with a discouraging 79-71 upset loss to the Texas Longhorns in an NCAA Tournament first-round game, perhaps the most telling was the difference in halves.

BYU outscored its opponents by just 15 overall points in first halves and by 265 overall points in second halves.

“We faced a lot of challenges this year, just like we did in this game. We battled back. That’s the mantra of this group. They never quit.”

BYU coach Kevin Young

“We were a big second-half team, for whatever reason,” said senior center Keba Keita.

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And they were a mediocre first-half team, at best.

The disturbing trend that haunted the Cougars (23-12) almost all season continued at Moda Center in front of a largely pro-BYU crowd, as sleep-deprived Texas took a 46-37 halftime lead and increased it to 68-51 before BYU woke up and made a game of it down the stretch.

The Cougars outscored the Longhorns 34-33 in the second half, but it clearly wasn’t enough.

“I thought our guys fought their tails off in the second half,” said second-year coach Kevin Young. “In a lot of ways it was a microcosm of our season. We faced a lot of challenges this year, just like we did in this game. We battled back. That’s the mantra of this group. They never quit.”

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Unfortunately, they rarely got off to great starts, either.

From the opening tip, Texas seemed to have more energy, at both ends of the floor. Oregon State transfer Jordan Pope got wide open and drained a 3-pointer on UT’s first possession. Then AJ Dybantsa, who finished with a game-high 35 points, committed the first of five turnovers. Texas took a 5-0 lead on a rebound dunk by Camden Heide and then an 8-2 lead on a triple by Tramon Mark, and the tone had been set for the rest of the half.

Texas head coach Sean Miller calls out to his players during a first-round…

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Publish date : 2026-03-21 03:00:00

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