As the No. 13 Cougars prepare for Saturday’s highly anticipated showdown against the No. 14 Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse, the spotlight will shine on a matchup between two of college basketball’s brightest young stars: AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson.
ESPN's College GameDay understands the magnitude of this matchup as it broadcast live Saturday morning from Lawrence, with plenty of talk about the freshman superstars and their prospects in next June's NBA draft. Peterson and Dybantsa are projected to be the first two picks.
For BYU, the trip to Lawrence also stirs memories of the last time the Cougars stunned the Jayhawks on their home floor.
Two seasons ago, in 2024, BYU was teetering at 7-7 in conference play heading into arguably the most historic arena in basketball and one of the toughest places to win on the road. Led by Jaxson Robinson and Dallin Hall, the Cougars faced a daunting task as it faced off against then No. 7 Kansas, featuring 7-foot-1 Hunter Dickinson.
Following a less-than-impressive season to finish its final year in the West Coast Conference, BYU was picked to finish second-to-last in its first year as a member of the Big 12. Still, the matchup presented an opportunity for the Cougars to shock the country and make a push toward finishing in the top half of the conference standings.
The first half of the game went the way most people thought it would. Kansas controlled throughout and got up by 12 points at one point in the second half. But when Dickinson and BYU’s Trevin Knell were assessed double technical fouls, and BYU coach Mark Pope received a technical just minutes later, the momentum began to shift. Pope described his team’s response after the emotional stretch.
“They were the ones composed,” he said. “They were like, ‘Hey, we’re OK. Let's keep working.' And they did.”
Robinson and Hall both scored 18 points for the Cougars, including a five-point sequence that helped seal the win, highlighted by a pair of free throws from Robinson before Hall drilled a three-point shot over Dickinson to put the Cougars on top by five.
BYU’s win over Kansas was only the Jayhawks’ 18th home loss under coach Bill Self in over 20 years.
Following the historic win, Pope expressed what it meant to secure a victory inside Allen Fieldhouse.
“All of us are lifelong college basketball fans,” Pope said. “This arena, this team, this coach, these players — you know, it's an all-time mecca. I think that's what makes this special.”
The Cougars finished fifth in the Big 12 standings, 10-8, earning a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament, where they faced Keith Dambrot, the high school coach of all-time great LeBron James’, and his Duquesne Dukes. BYU lost 71-67.
It was a disappointing ending to what was an optimistic overall season for BYU. From being picked 13th in the Big 12 standings to finishing fifth, BYU had a lot going for it going into its second season as a Big 12 member, but that momentum stalled when the head coaching position opened at Kentucky.
Pope was given the call, and he darted for the chance to coach at his alma mater.
BYU was left with a major question mark at the coaching position, and it had to act fast.
On April 16, a "Woj Bomb" broke the news that BYU had hired Kevin Young, one of the top assistant coaches in the NBA.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">ESPN Sources: Phoenix Suns associate HC Kevin Young is finalizing a long-term deal to become the next coach at Brigham Young University. An aggressive push to hire NBA’s highest paid assistant lands BYU its top target. <a href="https://t.co/yRGJb7yHPd">pic.twitter.com/yRGJb7yHPd</a></p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) <a href="https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1780273146735755469?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Young immediately got to work on retaining the current BYU roster, and he added Egor Demin, a highly regarded European prospect recruited by several top programs.
In Young’s first season coaching college basketball, he led BYU to its first Sweet 16 finish since 2011, when Jimmer Fredette won the Naismith Player of the Year. He also produced BYU’s first draft pick since Fredette in Demin.
Young’s NBA-style approach proved effective as he was able to attract a lot of attention, including that of highly touted high school recruit AJ Dybantsa, who was attending school at Utah Prep in southern Utah. The native of Brockton, Mass., committed to BYU, calling it an opportunity to improve his game.
“I couldn’t really pass up an NBA staff, an NBA dietitian, an NBA strength coach and NBA analytics. I can’t really pass up on that,” Dybantsa said in an interview with ESPN's Stephen A. Smith.
Young also brought in Baylor transfer Rob Wright, and he developed Richie Saunders into an NBA prospect. Everything Young vowed at his opening press conference, to turn BYU into an NBA pipeline, is already coming to fruition in year one and now year two.
However, it’s not just about having NBA talent. It’s fun to have great athletes, but BYU fans want to win games and push for deep runs in March. So far this year, the Cougars have fallen short in opportunities to secure signature wins, namely against UConn, Texas Tech and Arizona.
A win at Kansas would provide exactly that.
Different year. A different team. Same goal — win.