No luck at all: No. 19 BYU can’t catch a break in loss at West Virginia
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- BYU guard Robert Wright III (1) is defended by West Virginia guard Honor Huff (3) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in Morgantown, W.Va.
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- BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) is defended by West Virginia forward Brenen Lorient (0) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in Morgantown, W.Va.
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- BYU players meet on the court during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against West Virginia Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in Morgantown, W.Va.
BYU hasn’t been lucky or good in the past month, and Saturday’s 79-71 loss at West Virginia was more of the same.
The Cougars — 4-8 in their past 12 games — weren’t good during a key stretch in the first half that got them down by 14 points. A few breaks as BYU made a run in the final four minutes of a three-point game would have been nice, but the basketball gods were stingy at WVU Coliseum.
Down three with under two minutes to play, BYU stole the ball and AJ Dybantsa pushed it up the court for a transition opportunity. His pass to Aleksej Kostic in the middle of the floor was swiped away by Chance Moore. On the Mountaineers ensuing possession, the Cougars forced a miss but allowed a tip-out offensive rebound — the 18th of the game for the home team — with 26 seconds left and West Virginia was able to close out the win.
“It’s different reasons every game,” BYU head coach Kevin Young said. “This game it was our decision making, driving into a crowd, turning the ball over, not getting shots on goal. When we did what we were supposed to do offensively, we did a decent enough job. But the defensive intensity was abysmal in the first half. Those two factors got us off to that start.”
Heck, in the first half AJ Dybantsa was running up the floor for a sure basket on the break but collided with an official. Dybantsa could only watch helplessly as the pass intended for him flew out of bounds for a turnover.
That’s just bad luck, right?
“That’s stuff that you just can’t make up, honestly,” BYU head coach Kevin Young said on his post-game radio interview. “But you can’t cry about it. You’ve got to find ways to still get things done.”
BYU led 21-17 on back-to-back 3-pointers from Kostic and Rob Wright III, but went the final eight minutes of the first half without a field goal. The Mountaineers took off an a 23-5 run and led 40-26 at the break.
Asked about his team’s intensity in the post-game news conference, Young responded, “It was joke. In the first half, it was a joke. Not the whole half but they went on that flurry. Some of the clips we watched at halftime were inexcusable, but I thought our guys responded at halftime and brought better effort in the second half.”
Despite cutting the deficit to seven out of the gate, BYU trailed by double digits most of the second half, unable to do anything but trade baskets. At one point, the Cougars made eight straight baskets but only pulled to within five, 71-66, on a 3-point play from Keba Keita.
It was three points, 74-71, on a score inside by Keita with 1:16 to play. But that was the last basket the Cougars would make and two fateful plays thwarted the comeback effort.
Rob Wright III led BYU with 23 points, four rebounds and four assists and Dybantsa had 20 points, 16 in the second half. Kostic made 4 of 9 from the 3-point line for 12 points and Keita contributed nine points and eight rebounds.
Honor Huff led West Virginia with 19 points and Brenan Lorient had 18, two of the team’s five double-figure scorers. The Mountaineers won the rebound battle 39-29.
“That’s why we lost,” Young said. “They had 18 offensive rebounds. We’re actually usually really good there, one of best teams in the conference with that. They only turned that into 15 second-chance points but every time we had them on the ropes it felt like they got an offensive rebound that made it difficult. Lorient, Moore and (DJ) Thomas, they were men out there and they kicked our butts.”
Wright added: “It was our decision making. We had a couple of turnovers with their aggressive defense. I feel like that late game turnover at the end to Alex, if we fix that it would be a different story.”
After two straight losses, No. 19 BYU (20-9 overall, 8-8 Big 12) will likely be unranked for the first time this season when it plays the second game of this road trip at Cincinnati on Tuesday. The Bearcats (16-13, 8-8) have won five of their past six games, including Saturday’s 91-68 rout of Oklahoma State.
