Key Highlights
- 15 Texas Tech as an opportunity to grow and learn and, possibly, get a statement road win over the seasoned Red Raiders. Well, at least the No.
- 11 Cougars succeeded on one front. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTexas Tech delivered a clinic on both ends of the floor in the game’s final nine minutes after falling behind by nine points and rolled to an 84-71 victory to snap BYU’s 13-game winning streak and 12-game conference regular-season winning streak.“It is hard to have this, but if it is now (as opposed to) two months from now, this is how we learn,” said BYU senior Richie Saunders. Indeed, the Red Raiders (4-1, 14-4) schooled the Cougars down the stretch, magnificently rising up after Saunders’ 3-pointer with 9:26 remaining gave BYU a 61-52 lead, quieted the boisterous crowd of 15,098, and completed a 16-2 run for the visitors. The next nine minutes — after a well-placed Texas Tech timeout — were simply a nightmare for the Cougars (4-1, 16-2), who had won six straight Big 12 road games and at one point Saturday had a 92.5% win probability. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe entire second half was forgettable for BYU’s best player, as potential top NBA draft pick AJ Dybantsa turned in his worst performance of the season. Dybantsa had a solid first half with 11 points on 5 of 11 shooting but simply could not get it going after the break.
- He finished with a career-low 13 points on 6 of 17 shooting, and was 0 for 3 from the 3-point line.
- He also had three turnovers. Dybantsa went to the free-throw line just once, to complete a 3-point play early in the contest.
- A big part of Dybantsa’s game is getting to the free-throw line, but on Saturday night it just wasn’t happening for the 6-foot-9 freshman from Brockton, Mass.“They did a good job not fouling him in a physical game,” Young said, diplomatically.