Dybantsa drops 40 in BYU's shootout win over K-State in Big 12 Tournament

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The only thing that could stop AJ Dybantsa in Tuesday night's Big 12 tournament opener was the conference's corporate sponsorship with Monster energy drinks.

Moments after Dybantsa's 40-point effort in a 105-91 win over Kansas State, the five-star freshman brought a trademark can of Red Bull — one of the contributors to his seven-figure endorsement package — into the postgame press conference. After setting it on the table, a Big 12 official moderating the conference stood up, rummaged for an extra Gatorade cup sitting next to the table, and told him to move the can for "sponsorship purposes."

Dybantsa obliged; one win was good enough on this night.

Dybantsa set a Big 12 Tournament record for most points by a freshman with 40 points, nine rebounds and six assists as the 10th-seeded Cougars pulled past the Wildcats, stretching a 1-point halftime edge into a 14-point victory in the opening round of postseason play at the T-Mobile Center.

Robert Wright III added 14 points and six assists for BYU (22-10), which shot better than 50% from the field in either half and outrebounded the Wildcats 40-29.

"I'm just trying to win games," said Dybantsa, who finished 3 points shy of the tournament's single-game scoring record and looked like the Big 12 player of the year. "That's the main goal, to try to get to the championship. If I need to score 43 for that, then yeah. But I'm not going for the record."

Kennard Davis Jr. added 15 points, three rebounds and three assists; and Khadim Mboup pulled down 14 rebounds to go with 8 points for the Cougars.

PJ Haggerty totaled 27 points and five rebounds to lead Kansas State (12-10), and Nate Johnson scored 19 for the Wildcats.

But Dybantsa, who is rewriting the Cougars' own record book, capped a 15-3 run with back-to-back buckets to help BYU overcome a slow start to take a 25-18 advantage with 11:17 left in the half.

Wright stretched the lead to double digits, 36-26, with the Cougars' fourth triple of the game three minutes later before the Wildcats came back to led by as much as 6.

Dybantsa had 21 points at the half, including a transition dunk from Wright at the buzzer to lift the Cougars to a 50-49 halftime lead.

"I actually slowed down; I wanted him to get the layup," Dybantsa said. "He told me he wasn't going to dunk it, and we needed some energy going into the half. Credit to Rob for giving me that dunk."

BYU had the juice at halftime, and didn't let it slip away while shooting 54.8% from the field with 11 3-pointers and outrebounding the Wildcats 27-12 in the second half.

"Just the juice, the energy," said Aleksej Kostic, who scored 11 points on 3-of-7 3-point shooting in 20 minutes, "then guys like Dominique came in and Khadim brought in so much energy. That was the main thing."

Wright added 14 points and three assists at the half for BYU, which shot 62.1% from the field before the break — and allowed the Wildcats to go off for 56.8% including 7-of-10 from 3-point range.

That included 18 points and two assists from Haggerty, the former Memphis star who earned All-Big 12 honorable mention honors

But Dybantsa didn't stop after halftime, and Davis did all his scoring after after halftime that included a 3-pointer during a 16-2 run that stretched the Cougars' lead to 92-73 with 5:32 remaining to pull away for good.

Dybantsa was sensational, Wright managed the offense — until he had to leave late with a lip laceration that Young doesn't expect to impact him in Wednesday's second round — and the rest of the team did their thing.

That included Mboup's 14 rebounds and two blocked shots, six assists from Wright to match Dybantsa's game-high, and a defensive effort from Dominique Diomande that helped hold the Wildcats to 32-of-63 shooting including 6-of-12 from deep after halftime and 1-of-8 form Haggerty after the break.

"It's just a mentality," Mboup said. "That's how I'm wired: I've got to get the rebounds. My mentality is with every ball that bounces off the rim, I'm going to go get it. It's mine, and that's how I work."

And about that missed marketing opportunity for one of Dybantsa's sponsors? He got it back later, when a reporter cheekily asked the projected NBA draft lottery pick what postgame beverage "really fuels you."

"Definitely Red Bull; gives you wings," Dybantsa said with a laugh.

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