Rob Wright III breathes life into BYU as Cougars knock off No. 10 Texas Tech, 82-76

BYU looked like a completely different team in the second half on Saturday night.

After falling into an early hole and trailing by eight at halftime, the Cougars rode a dominant performance from Rob Wright III and a much tougher defensive effort to rally past No. 10 Texas Tech, 82-76, in their final home game of the season at the Marriott Center.

The effort and intensity were noticeably higher compared to BYU’s previous three games, helped in part by 'Senior Night' festivities where Richie Saunders and others were honored.

Early on, however, the production wasn’t there.

Through the first 10 minutes of play, BYU was just 7-of-23 from the field and 1-of-10 from beyond the arc despite taking nine more shots than Texas Tech.

The Red Raiders, meanwhile, were blistering from deep.

Texas Tech went 7-of-14 from the field in the opening stretch, with six of its first seven made shots coming from 3-point range, putting BYU in an early hole. But the Cougars eventually settled in offensively.

BYU hit nine of its final 17 shots of the half, including three triples from Kennard Davis, but Texas Tech refused to cool off.

The Red Raiders shot over 55% from the field in the first half and poured in 12 threes on 19 attempts.

Even with BYU’s late push, Texas Tech carried a 46-38 lead into halftime.

AJ Dybantsa finished the half with 10 points but struggled for most of it, shooting just 4-of-14 from the field.

Wright, who had been relatively quiet with just four first-half points, wasted no time getting going in the second half. He opened with an and-one floater to cut the lead to five, which seemed to bring him to life.

Over the first five minutes of the half, Wright scored nine points and helped trim the Texas Tech lead to just one. From there, he took over.

Wright poured in 23 of his 27 points in the second half, swinging the momentum toward BYU.

“I think that one might be number one now,” Wright said when asked where the performance ranks in his career.

Dybantsa struggled shooting for the second straight game, finishing just 8-of-25 from the field, but still produced 21 points and six rebounds. More importantly, his defensive intensity helped set the tone for the Cougars.

That energy carried over to the rest of the team.

After allowing Texas Tech to shoot over 55% in the first half, BYU clamped down defensively after the break. The Cougars held the Red Raiders to just 38% shooting in the second half and limited them to 4-of-16 from three.

BYU’s outside shooting never truly came around. The Cougars finished just 6-of-26 from deep. But grit and will-power on both ends of the floor won them this game.

BYU dominated inside, scoring 48 points in the paint compared to just 14 for Texas Tech. The Cougars also controlled the glass, outscoring the Red Raiders 20-9 on second-chance points.

“I thought we imposed our will on them,” BYU coach Kevin Young said.

Young also acknowledged that the majority of the season has been anything but easy for his team.

“Call a spade a spade, it’s been a tough year,” Young said. “That trip out east was difficult… so we had to do some soul-searching.”

If Saunders’ ACL could magically heal and every game from here on out were in the Marriott Center, BYU would likely feel much better about its chances to make a run in both the Big 12 and NCAA Tournament, but that won’t be the case.

Instead, the Cougars (21-10, 9-9) will take some momentum into Kansas City, where they will open the Big 12 Tournament as the No. 10 seed on Tuesday with a first-round matchup against No. 15 seed Kansas State (12-19, 3-15).

The game is scheduled to tip off at 5 p.m. MDT and will air on ESPN+.