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BYU's AJ Dybantsa splits a pair of defenders on his way to the basket against Eastern Washington a men's college basketball game at the Marriott Center on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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BYU's Robert Wright III (1) drives to the basket against Eastern Washington a men's college basketball game at the Marriott Center on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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BYU men's basketball head coach Kevin Young reacts on the sideline in a game against Abilene Christian at the Marriott Center on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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With 12 days between beating Eastern Washington and the start of the Big 12 schedule, the BYU men’s basketball team has been doing more than just opening presents at Christmas and welcoming in the new year.

Cougar head coach Kevin Young said his squad is healthy — “fully healthy,” in his words — as they travel to Manhattan, Kan., to play Kansas State Saturday afternoon. BYU has played seven games away from the Marriott Center but all at neutral sites, so this will be its first true road game of the season.

He also said the players are “more good than bad” in settling into their roles.

“I think with Bido (Abdullah Ahmed) coming in, that impacts things,” Young said. “I feel great about our starting five. We’ve had a couple of different guys coming off the bench that have helped us. The clarity in terms of, ‘What do I need to do to get on the floor?,’ I think the guys understand how that plays out. When you add somebody new midseason, that still takes time to sort of flesh itself out. I do feel like guys understand the things they need to do get themselves on the court and we’ll see who wins jobs as it relates to the bench players.”

Ahmed, a 6-foot-10 post player who was most recently with the Westchester Knicks in the G-League, played nine minutes against Eastern Washington on Dec. 22 in his debut, contributing one point and five rebounds. He brings high-level experience to add to the depth in the post.

Young said while he realizes the college game is different, he’s relied on his NBA experience in regards to integrating Ahmed into the roster.

“It’s no different than bringing in a guy before the trade deadline and you’re trying to prep someone for a playoff run, which is essentially how I’ve viewed bringing in Bido,” Young said. “It’s not easy. It’s way harder than people think. We felt in our particular case that it was a calculated risk that we were willing to take. He’s a great young man. He understands how to play and he’s unselfish. He fits with what we’re doing. So I think it’s situational. You throw the wrong guy in mid-season and the whole thing is going to blow up, so you’ve got to be super careful. In our own case, so far it’s gone good. But we still have a lot of work to do to get our guys on the same page.”

Young added that his main concerns with the long layoff were conditioning and continuity.

“That’s going to take a little bit of time to regain,” he said. “But I think we have a mature group and think guys understand. Three of our five starters have played in the Big 12 and they understand what is necessary to how you need to play.”

BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa is currently second in the country in scoring (23.1 points per game) and is coming off a triple-double (33 points, ten rebounds, ten assists) against Eastern Washington that earned him both the Big 12 Player and Newcomer of the Week awards.

“I think where he can take it to another level is figuring things out a little bit quicker,” Young said. “He’s obviously had a lot of big second halves and things like that. But he can figure out how teams are going to play him earlier in games. He needs to continue to make the reads. I think defensively, he can continue to improve. I think all of our guys can get better, and he’s no different.”

Scouting Report

Kansas State’s Jerome Tang has rebuilt his roster into a potent scoring group with a strong guard line, led by 6-3 junior PJ Haggerty. The Memphis transfer is one of the elite scorers in the country (22.9 points per game) and has help from 6-1 sophomore David Castillo (13.3 ppg), Monmouth transfer Abdi Bashir (12.8 ppg) and Akron transfer Nate Johnson (12.4 ppg).

The Wildcats (9-4) are tops in the Big 12 in 3-point field goals made per game (10.8) and shoot 40% from beyond the arc. KSU is also No. 1 in the league in assists per game (19.62).

“It’s a high powered offensive team,” Young said. “They’ve got a really good scorer in Haggerty. I think Bashir is one of the best shooters in the country, along with a few of the other guys on their roster. So we have to pay them the respect they deserve as a 3-point shooting team, but also understand that Haggerty is kind of a one-man wrecking crew in and of himself. But I’ve been really impressed with a few of their other players as well. They’re not just a one-man band. There’s some other guys that can really hurt you off the dribble as well. So wrapping all that up into our messaging is kind of where we’ve been.”

Men’s College Basketball

No. 10 BYU (12-1) at Kansas State (9-4)

Saturday, 11:30 a.m. MT

Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan.

TV/Streaming: CBS

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

Live stats: byucougars.com

The Word: The overall series between BYU and Kansas State is tied at 5-5. … The Cougars won the last meeting 80-65 in Provo last season but are 0-3 against the Wildcats in Manhattan. … Saturday will be BYU’s first true road game of the season. … The Cougars are 6-5 in road games under Kevin Young.