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Houston guard Emanuel Sharp (21) and BYU forward AJ Dybantsa, right, play for a loose ball during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, in Provo, Utah.

Rob Gray, AP Photo

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BYU's Robert Wright III (left) is cut off by Houston's Isaiah Harwell in a Big 12 men's basketball game at the Marriott Center on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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There are two schools of thought when it comes to breaking a team out of slump: Keep grinding with what you have been working on or mix things it up with some kind of a change.

BYU men’s basketball is mired in a four-game losing streak and has dropped five of its past six games. Head coach Kevin Young said he and his coaching staff will look at everything as they prepare for a road trip to Baylor on Tuesday.

He thinks his group is close to finding success, which makes him lean toward grinding.

“I think when you lose in a fashion that’s ugly, it’s easy to make changes,” Young said after Saturday’s 77-66 loss to No. 8 Houston. “When you’re losing in a fashion and you feel like you’re right there, it’s a little bit harder. But that being said, everything’s on the table, as far as us examining things.

“It’s a situation that we’re in where because of some of the injuries that we’ve had, with the season-ending injuries, we were searching a little bit off the bench. So you can make an argument to maybe then put one of the starters on the bench and put a bench guy in so that you do have something a little bit more potentially coming off the bench. So everything is being examined.”

Senior guard Dawson Baker played in just six games before going down with a season-ending knee injury on Nov. 27 against Miami. Baker’s shooting, creativity and experience are sorely missed. Word is Baker is rehabbing and will apply for another year of eligibility.

Nate Pickens, a 6-foot-3 guard who transferred from UC-Riverside, was expected to push for starting minutes but was injured in preseason workouts and hasn’t played at all in in 2025-26.

The most likely change would be moving energetic sophomore Khadim Mboup into the starting lineup and bringing Kennard Davis Jr. off the bench. Davis has struggled mightily on offense, shooting just 29.5% (31-105) from the 3-point line. Senior center Keba Keita has had issues on both ends of the floor lately, perhaps providing an opportunity to start 6-foot-10 sophomore Abdullah Ahmed or 6-10 junior Mahailo Boskovic to see if that shakes things up.

“It’s a great question and like I said, if you’re losing in a way where you’re like, Oh man, you don’t even feel like you have a shot, it’s easy to make changes,” Young said. “I sound like a broken record, but, (losses to) Arizona, UConn, Houston, Texas Tech, you’re right there to win all those games doing it the way we’ve been doing it. But it’s not good enough, because we’re not winning. Those decisions keep me up at night, for sure.”

Kind words

BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa scored 28 points in the loss to Houston.

“The Dybantsa kid is special,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “You know you’re not going to stop him. I mean, that question should never be asked of any coach. How do you stop him? I don’t know how. We just made him earn the shots he he got, and he made some tough ones.

“At some point, I knew that Coach Young was going to stop and give the ball to Dybantsa. His efficiency, he got 28 points and he only took 14 shots to get them. That’s high level. But he’s going to be doing that with Kenny (Smith) and Charles (Barkley) and Ernie (Johnson) and Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal) commenting on him (on Inside the NBA). Pretty soon, he’ll probably be doing the same thing. So no shame giving up 28 to that kid. He’s special.”

Scouting Report

The last meeting between BYU and Baylor is a fascinating example of college basketball in the NIL/transfer portal era.

The Cougars held on to beat the Bears 93-89 in overtime at the Marriott Center in January of 2025. None of the seven athletes who played for Baylor in that game are on this year’s roster. Leading scorer VJ Edgecombe (28 points) was the No. 3 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers. Robert Wright III scored 22 points for the Bears and is now at BYU. Two players (Norchad Omier, Jayden Nunn) graduated and the other three transferred: Josh Ojianwuna to Ohio State, Jalen Celestine to Cincinnati and Jason Asemota to Boston College.

The Cougars leading scorer that night was freshman Kanon Catchings, who had perfect shooting game (8 of 8 from the field, 4 of 4 from 3, 3 of 3 from the line) for 23 points. He transferred to Georgia, where he’s averaging 11.2 points per game. Only three BYU athletes who played in that game a year ago are on BYU’s current roster: Keta, Boskovic and senior Richie Saunders.

This season, Baylor started Big 12 play 1-7 with its only win against Oklahoma State (94-79). The Bears most recently beat West Virginia (63-53) and Colorado (86-67) and on Saturday played tough against No. 7 Iowa State before dropping a 72-69 decision in Ames.

Tennessee transfer Cameron Carr (19.6 points per game) and freshman Toundre Yessourfou (17.7) give BYU a difficult guard line to defend.

Dybantsa said he and his teammates are ready for the challenge.

“Richie actually told us that last year that they went on like a losing streak,” he said. “They lost three games in a row. They still ended up going to the Sweet 16 and having a chance to win it over there in Jersey. So we’re trying to find our identity. I mean, we kind of know what it is. We’ve just got to close out games, right? It was kind of a problem just being down 15 in the first half, but we kind of showed that we could fight in the first half.”

Men’s College Basketball

No. 22 BYU (17-6, 5-5 Big 12) at Baylor (13-10, 3-8 Big 12)

Tuesday, 5 p.m. MT

Foster Pavilion in Waco, Texas

TV/Streaming: ESPN2

Radio: KSL 102.7/1160 AM, BYU Radio-Sirus XM 143

Live stats: byucougars.com

The Word: BYU leads the overall series with Baylor 7-6. … The Cougars won the last meeting 93-89 in overtime at the Marriott Center last January. … BYU is 0-2 all-time against the Bears in Waco. … The Cougars have lost four games in a row for the first time since 2023. … The last time BYU lost five games in a row was in 2005, the last season under Steve Cleveland before he left for Fresno State and was replaced by Dave Rose.