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BYU's Rob Wright (1) goes in for a shot against Wisconsin in a men's college basketball game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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BYU's AJ Dybantsa (right) drives against Wisconsin in a men's college basketball game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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SALT LAKE CITY — With about 18 minutes left in No. 9 BYU’s showdown at the Delta Center against No. 23 Wisconsin, Cougar wunderkind AJ Dybantsa picked up his fourth foul on a charge.

The Cougars led 49-36 at the time, but BYU fans who witnessed the Badgers huge comeback when the two teams played in the second round of the NCAA Tournament back in March had to be feeling a little PTSD coming on, fearing they might have to watch Wisconsin’s shot-making guards get hot again.

Not this time.

The Badgers fell just short of catching the Cougars in Denver but on Friday, Richie Saunders and his teammates never gave them the chance, extending the lead to 20 points with Dybantsa on the bench on their way to a decisive 98-70 victory.

Richie Saunders scored 15 of his-game high 26 points in the second half and after Wisconsin trimmed the deficit to seven, the Cougars took off on a 42-21 run to close out the game.

“Yeah, that was impressive,” BYU head coach Kevin Young said. “I thought tonight was the first game all year where everybody that we brought here, we brought here for a reason, and I think you saw that tonight. I think the role definition is getting more clear. And that stretch with Khadim (Mboup) gave us a big lift. I thought Rob (Wright) stepped up. Dominique Diomonde came in and gave us a lift. So it was good.

“I was worried, honestly, like, man, how are we gonna weather this? Right? And not only did we weather but we increased the lead, which says a lot about the rest of the team.”

An early 13-0 run, with 3-pointers from Saunders, Wright and Tyler Mrus, pushed BYU out to an 18-6 lead and the Cougars were up by as many as 16, 34-18, with 6:14 to play in the half. BYU took a 45-33 lead at the break, getting 12 points from Dybantsa and 11 from Saunders.

Dybantsa picked up his third foul just two minutes into the second half and his fourth just 15 seconds later on a charge, sending him to the bench for ten minutes of game time. A tip in by Wisconsin’s Nolan Winter brought the visitor to within seven, 56-49, with 13:22 to play.

But that was as close as the Badgers would get.

Saunders started finding his range from beyond the arc and his corner 3-pointer with 8:32 to play gave the Cougars a 72-52 lead. Dybantsa came back in moments later and BYU kept up the offensive pressure, Saunders burying a triple off a curl for an 81-58 advantage with 6:23 remaining.

The large lead was 32 points, 96-64, with 1:04 to play on a Wright 3-pointer.

Wright flirted with a triple double for the second time this season, finishing with 10 points, seven rebounds and 11 assists.

“I think it was just the guys,” Wright said. “The defense was collapsing on me so I was just finding an open man and it just made it easy. It definitely was just us playing together and just guarding. We did a great job just getting on transition and making plays.

Dybantsa was 11 of 12 from the foul line and finished with 18 points, six rebounds and three assists.

BYU was 13 of 34 (41%) from the 3-point line led by Saunders making 5 of 9.

Nick Boyd led Wisconsin (4-1) with 16 points. Winter had a double double with 14 points and 14 rebounds as the Badgers shot 38% from the field (23 of 61) and a chilly 7 of 29 (24%) from the 3-point line.

Wisconsin came into the contest averaging 93.3 points per game.

“I give our coaches a lot of credit (for the defense),” Young said. “They had a great game plan, and really it was a practice and the attitude, honestly. I said to the guys, if we were in the NBA, we played about four games by now, instead, we played none, and we had to sit on that UConn loss for way too long. So I think that really drove some motivation for our guys, and I think that’s a large part of why we came out and played well.”

BYU (4-1) heads to Florida next week for the Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational at State Farm Fieldhouse in Kissimmee. The Cougars open with the University of Miami on Thanksgiving Day and will play either Dayton or Georgetown on Friday.