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BYU men's basketball head coach Kevin Young talks to freshman AJ Dybantsa at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb., during a game against the Huskers on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's AJ Dybantsa soars for a dunk against Nebraska in a men's college basketball exhibition game at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Robert Wright III (1) drives to the basket against Nebraska's Rienk Mast in a men's college basketball exhibition game at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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The BYU men's basketball team prepares for an exhibition game against Nebraska at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Khadim Mboup (7) scores on a rebound against Nebraska in a men's college basketball exhibition game at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's AJ Dybantsa reacts to scoring a basket against Nebraska in a men's college basketball exhibition game at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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College basketball decided to embrace exhibition games this season and after BYU lost at Nebraska 90-89 at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Saturday, everyone is kind of wondering what it all means.

Does the loss mean the Cougars aren’t worthy of their preseason No. 8 ranking? Is Nebraska way better than where its picked in the Big Ten (14th)? Will BYU bounce back next Friday in another difficult exhibition against North Carolina at the Delta Center?

All good questions, all without definitive answers.

The Cougars led by four at halftime on Saturday but got blitzed by the home team in the second half, trailing by as many as 12 points before making a late rally. The Cougars had a chance for the win but 3-pointers from Aleksej Kostic and Jared McGregor didn’t find the mark.

Freshman AJ Dybantsa was terrific (30 points, seven rebounds, three assists and a block) for BYU, showing the skills that made him the nation’s No. 1 recruit. Khadim Mboup was active with 12 points and 11 rebounds and Kostic scored 11 points on three 3-pointers. Richie Saunders also scored 11 but was just 4 of 12 from the field (3 of 10 from 3), committing four turnovers and four fouls.

Baylor transfer Robert Wright III, who sat out the Blue/White scrimmage nursing an injury, played just the first half and finished with eight points and five assists in 17 minutes.

BYU head coach Kevin Young said his team’s “current health situation” made evaluating their performance difficult.

“I had three things I wanted to look at: Our starters playing together, when Rob was out and AJ with shooters around him, and then a defensive group,” Young said. “In between that it was fuzzy with the lack of depth that we had.”

Young said Wright was on minute restrictions. The Cougars got 11 players into the game, which didn’t include Idaho transfer Tyer Mrus, UC Riverside transfer Nate Pickens, senior guard Dawson Baker or sophomore forward Brody Kozlowski, all of whom are dealing with injuries.

“I feel good about learning more about our group based on those three criteria I just laid out,” Young continued. “No matter who we had out there, just being able to play a team like that that is really well coached … Fred (Hoiberg) is a really good coach. Offensively, they run their stuff super hard. That was a good thing for us to experience our first time out so there’ll be a lot of good we can take from it.”

Nebraska center Rienk Mast, who missed all of last season due to injury, repeatedly buried triples from virtually the same spot (top of the key) and made his first seven shots from distance before missing late in the second half. Mast finished with 31 points and Conner Essegian was 5 of 10 on long balls, adding 20 points. The Huskers made 16 of 34 from beyond the arc, bringing back bad memories for BYU fans of the NCAA Tournament record 25 3-pointers Alabama totaled in last season’s Sweet 16 loss.

They (the Huskers) are going to be hard to guard because Fred’s got them moving really well,” Young said. “I thought their speed in the half court was a problem for us. You tack on the way they shot and I felt like we were really strung out (on defense).”

BYU’s first unit  –Dybantsa, Saunders, Wright, Keba Keita and Kennard Davis — played well early and paced the Cougars to a 23-13 lead, Mboup putting back a rebound with 11:05 to play. Rink and Essegian made a push for Nebraska that gave the home team a 28-26 lead with 8:03 remaining. BYU responded with a 10-0 run — keyed by back-to-back 3-pointers by Dybantsa — in the final four minutes and took a 50-46 advantage at halftime.

The Huskers went on a 17-2 run to open the second half, the Cougars unable to stop the 3-point shot or drives to the basket. Nebraska outscored BYU 25-9 in the first seven minutes of the half and took a 71-59 lead on a 3-pointer from Jared Garcia and a basket off a turnover.

BYU got to within three, 90-87, on a Kostic 3-pointer with 50 seconds remaining and Mboup made a pair of free throws with 16.8 seconds to play to trim the deficit to one. Nebraska missed the front end of a 1-on-1 and the Cougars called time out with 10.3 seconds to play, setting up the final two misses by Kostic and McGregor.

Dybantsa was dynamic as an offensive force, making 10 of 19 from the field (2 of 4 from 3) and a perfect 8 of 8 from the foul line.

“Any time we lose … I kind of set myself to a high standard, so I’ve got win for it to be a good game,” Dybantsa said. “I kind of had jitters, just being out there for my first college game.”

Despite the loss, Young indicated exhibition Game 1 was what he wanted.

“When you look at our early season ‘real’ schedule, it’s pretty jam packed,” Young said. “We wanted to test ourselves. I know a little bit about this place. My wife is from Omaha and a lot of her family comes to the games. I’ve heard about the atmosphere at this place. It was good. We got what we wanted out of it from that standpoint.”