Repeat rival: No. 13 BYU, Utah back at it on Saturday
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- BYU’s Abdullah Ahmed (34) and AJ Dybantsa defend Utah’s Don McHenry in a Big 12 men’s basketball game at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026.
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- BYU’s AJ Dybantsa defends Utah’s Terrance Brown in a Big 12 men’s basketball game at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026.
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- BYU’s Robert Wright III drives between a pair of defenders against Utah in a Big 12 men’s basketball game at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026.
It was just one loss, but last Saturday’s 84-71 defeat at Texas Tech has created a pretty interesting mid-season tipping point for the No. 13 BYU men’s basketball team.
The Cougars were riding high heading to Lubbock, having won 13 straight games overall and 12 straight in Big 12 play. Rob Wright III was dealing and BYU led Texas Tech by nine with eight minutes to play before everything unraveled.
The Red Raiders outscored the Cougars 32-10 the rest of the way, riding the hot hands of their own Big Three (JT Toppin, Christian Anderson and LeJaun Watts) to cruise to a big win.
Down the stretch, the BYU defense lost Texas Tech’s shooters and on offense made just two field goals over the final eight minutes of the game.
The Cougars looked tired and flat.
Fortunately for BYU head coach Kevin Young and his program there was no mid-week game to follow the loss, providing ample time to get rested and right heading into a huge weekend: A repeat rivalry game against Utah on Saturday and a showdown with No. 1-ranked Arizona on Monday, both at the Marriott Center.
What kind of week did Young want to see from his team?
“A workman-like approach to some adversity,” Young said. “No disrespect to any of the other games we’ve played but I thought this (Texas Tech) was a true road test against a really, really good team. We have to learn from it, bottom line. I thought we did (learn) from the UConn loss. We haven’t had to talk a lot about responding much after losses because it’s only happened twice. Hopefully in the long run we can take this early season road loss and learn from it, particularly the guys who haven’t been through it like AJ (Dybantsa) and Moo (Kennard Davis Jr.) on the Big 12 stage, and continue to improve as season goes along.”
Dybantsa saw his streak of 20-point games end at ten. He tallied 11 points in the first half against the Red Raiders but only two in the second. After shooting double-digit free throws in five of his previous six games, Dybantsa had just one attempt on Saturday.
“They (Texas Tech) did a good job of not fouling him,” Young said. “It was a physical game and some of those could have gone either way. But you have to credit them for not fouling. AJ is a smart young man. He’ll learn from this and be better next time out.”
Wright finished with a career-high 28 points and Richie Saunders added 18. Davis was 0-of-6 from the 3-point line and scored just five points. In Big 12 play, Davis is just 4 of 26 (15%) from beyond the arc.
“This is our opportunity to respond,” Saunders said. “What I want is to come in Monday morning and be locked in on film and locked in with a growth mindset. What I want first and foremost is to come in and have a great practice on Monday, with the mindset that we’re going to get better, and we will.”
Young added on Friday: “We looked at some stuff offensively from an execution standpoint, do we have the requisite things need to walk a close game down? I think, generally speaking, the answer was yes.
“Defensively we were just making sure we have things dialed in for what I call our ‘tool belt,’ being able to make adjustments. We didn’t do a good job of that in the Texas Tech game. Sometimes you have to learn the hard way and that was certainly the case. I feel like we got some answers there moving forward and just a good mental reset.”
SCOUTING REPORT
Utah pushed BYU to the very end in front of a sellout crowd at the Huntsman Center just two weeks ago, with the Cougars winning 89-84. Since then the Utes have gone 1-2, losing to Texas Tech (88-74), beating TCU (82-79) and losing to Kansas State (81-78).
BYU, meanwhile, slipped past TCU 76-70 then saw their 13-game overall winning streak and 12-game Big 12 win streak snapped at Texas Tech last Saturday (84-71).
The biggest constant for Utah has been transfer guard Terrance Brown, who put up 25 against BYU and scored 59 points in the Utes past two games. Brown is averaging 22.2 points per game while shooting 46.8% from the field and 34.7% from the 3-point line.
Coaches will never look past an opponent, but the Cougars will have very little time to prepare for No. 1 Arizona, which comes to the Marriott Center on Monday.
What might look like a mismatch — BYU is No. 12 in NET ranking, Utah is 117 — really isn’t because of the rivalry nature of the game.
“I don’t think we underestimated Utah (last time),” Young said. “I know the coaches didn’t and I don’t think the players did. I think they knew it was a rivalry game, on the road, and they (Utah) played well. Those two guards (Brown and Don McHenry) have been torching the entire Big 12. They’ve done it to every team. I have a lot of respect for Coach (Alex) Jensen and what they’re trying to do there.
“They played well and we had to gut it out. I thought it was good for our guys to have to be in a hostile environment and come away with a win.”
Men’s College Basketball
Utah (9-10, 1-5 Big 12) at No. 13 BYU (16-2, 4-1 Big 12)
Saturday, 3:30 p.m. MT
Marriott Center, Provo
TV/Streaming: FOX
Radio: KSL 102.7/1160 AM, BYU Radio-Sirus XM 143
Live stats: byucougars.com
The Word: BYU leads the overall series with Utah 136-131. … The Cougars held on to beat Utah 89-84 at the Huntsman Center just two weeks ago. … The Utes scored their first Big 12 win of the season with an 82-79 victory against TCU a week ago. … BYU has won 11 of the past 12 meetings with the Utes in the Marriott Center. … Utah’s last win in Provo came in 2014 (65-61).
