'A real welcome to the Big 12 moment for me:' How AJ Dybantsa reacted to 1st BYU-Utah rivalry game

SALT LAKE CITY — AJ Dybantsa didn't know much, if anything at all, about the rivalry between BYU and Utah growing up in Brockton, Massachusetts.

The five-star freshman likely only felt the rivalry on an intellectual level when he finished his high school career at Utah Prep in Hurricane.

But Dybantsa got his first taste of the biggest game once played as part of the Beehive Boot series Saturday night, when he had 20 points, six rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal in No. 9 BYU's 89-84 win over the Utes in front of a sold-out Huntsman Center crowd of 15,558.

So what did he think?

"That was crazy," he quipped. "That was really hostile.

"That was probably — besides my high school days — that rivalry was probably the most hostile environment I've been in," Dybantsa added. "That was a real 'welcome to the Big 12' moment for me."

He may not be wrong. Dybantsa is used to playing in front of hostile crowds, where opposing fanbases call him "overrated" or "flopper" like the jam-packed MUSS did at several turns Saturday night.

But here's a sample of some of the other things the Utes' largest home crowd of the season to dated hurled in the 267th edition of the hardwood rivalry series:

• Before tipoff, swaths of Utah fans chanted "(Expletive) BYU" that reverberated through the arena.
• When a BYU fan bellowed "Go Cougs" seconds before the national anthem, a group of Utah students responded by booing — as the madrigal choir from nearby Woods Cross High School opened the national anthem, prompting several shushings including from neighbors.
• Most times that BYU's Kennard Davis Jr. checked into the game, touched the ball, or took a shot, several Utah students would chant "D-U-I" — an obvious reference to Davis' incident with Provo police nearly two months ago.
• Chants of "overrated" echoed through the arena when Dybantsa missed five of his 11 shots, all three 3-point efforts, and 4 of 12 free throws.

Dybantsa will face larger crowds in his collegiate — and future pro — career. The 6-foot-8 jumbo wing has had haters, and will face more in the days, weeks, months and years to come even as the Cougars' season continues Wednesday against TCU (9 p.m. MST, ESPN2).

But Saturday night's hostility was expected, if not from Dybantsa, then from head coach Kevin Young and senior Richie Saunders, the Riverton native who dropped a team-high 24 points and 14 rebounds in the win.

"Rivalry games are like that for a reason," Young said. "They're super fun. I agree with AJ; just a fun environment. There's nothing better as a competitor than going to somebody else's building and beating them in their building — especially when it's somebody that there's a longstanding rivalry with.

"Stats don't matter in a game like this. I just thought it was a really, really good, hard-fought win."

Prior to the game, Young said he had separate conversations with Dybantsa and point guard Robert Wright III, who finished with 23 points and six assists, about what the game meant to the program, the university, the fans and players like Saunders or Keba Keita — the Cougars' 6-foot-8 center who played two years at Utah before returning to the Huntsman Center wearing blue for a second, and likely final, time.

It was the kind of rivalry that Young hinted he probably didn't fully comprehend until the Salt Lake City-born, Marietta, Georgia-raised basketball coach until he experienced it first-hand last year.

"This game means a ton to our university, it means a ton for Richie, and we want to send them out with the win," he said. "And that was really cool to see those guys step up in moments along with Keba and Richie."

Dybantsa learned a thing or two about himself along the way, as well — lessons that are part of what will likely be his lone season of college basketball before next summer's NBA draft.

They're the kinds of lessons that may be just as important as his numbers, like the streak of nine consecutive games he's put up 20 points or more — the eighth-longest such streak in BYU history, and longest by a Big 12 freshman since Trae Young's 12 straight for Oklahoma in 2018.

"I've been dealing with (hostility) since I was 13," he said. "I've been getting hate comments, hate phrases, sayings during games. I heard it all; I've just got to play my game, and just make the right decisions."

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