No. 1 Arizona Holds Off No. 13 BYU’s Late Comeback Attempt
Jan 26, 2026, 9:58 PM | Updated: Jan 27, 2026, 10:52 am
PROVO, UT - JANUARY 26: Brayden Burries #5 of the Arizona Wildcats brings the ball up court against AJ Dybantsa #3 of the Brigham Young Cougars in the first half at the Marriott Center on January 26, 2026 in Provo, Utah.(Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
(Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
PROVO, Utah – Arizona knocked off BYU 86-83 to extend its undefeated start to the season.
The No. 1-ranked team comes out with a victory in the Marriott Center in its second consecutive season.
BYU’s loss brings its 13-game home winning streak at the Marriott Center to an end.
First Half
Under-16: Arizona 11, BYU 10
BYU started strong from 3-point range, knocking down both of their attempts. On the downside, the start was marked by three turnovers that led to four Arizona points.
Under-12: BYU 20, Arizona 18
BYU had the lead, but there were some missed opportunities to get a bigger cushion.
After Richie Saunders hit a bucket against Koa Peat to give BYU the 20-18 lead, Kennard Davis had two 3-point attempts that hit the iron.
Under-8: Arizona 24, BYU 24
Keba Keita made an impressive save in front of the bench, then tossed it back to AJ Dybantsa, leading to a foul on Arizona’s Dwayne Aristode.
Arizona’s Jaden Bradley and Brayden Burries were having their way with getting downhill in the paint.
Under-4: Arizona 36, BYU 27
Arizona put together a 12-1 run that included a four-point sequence in which Brayden Burries had a midrange bucket, then, seconds later, Jaden Bradley stole the inbounds pass from Richie Saunders for an easy layup.
Koa Peat picked up two fouls in one defensive series, leading Tommy Lloyd to bring him off the court.
BYU missed seven of its last eight field goal attempts.
End of First Half: Arizona 44, BYU 31
Brayden Burries and Jaden Bradley combined for 36 points in the first half, outscoring BYU’s entire team.
Arizona scored 13 points off BYU’s nine turnovers. By comparison, BYU had zero points off the two Wildcat giveaways.
At the end of the half with 17 seconds remaining, there were offsetting technicals called on Arizona’s Tobe Awaka and BYU’s Keba Keita.
Second Half
Under-16: Arizona 55, BYU 41
BYU quickly cut Arizona’s halftime lead of 13 points down to eight after a Rob Wright floater and a three by Kennard Davis, his first 3-pointer since January 10.
The Cougars had a chance to cut the deficit to five after forcing a turnover, AJ Dybantsa fired up a three, but it hit the iron.
Arizona responded, building its lead back to double-digits.
Brayden Burries (24) and Jaden Bradley (17) were tied in scoring with BYU at the under-16 timeout.
Under-12: Arizona 60, BYU 45
The Marriott Center crowd was fired up with the officiating crew of Kipp Kissinger, Marques Pettigrew, and Tony Padilla after Jaden Bradley hit AJ Dybantsa’s arm on a shot attempt.
Whenever BYU looked to get some momentum or get the Marriott Center crowd on its feet, Arizona kept responding.
AJ Dybantsa had a slam dunk to put BYU within 10, then Tobe Awaka drew and-one to give the Wildcats a quick response.
Under-8: Arizona 69, BYU 54
Arizona built up the lead to 19 points after a Krivas slam dunk, that led to the Arizona fans behind the Wildcats bench chanting, “U-of-A,” “U-of-A.”
BYU’s student section responded with a “B-Y-U” chant, which was followed up by another Kennard Davis three-pointer.
Then Aleksej Kostic hit a pair of threes to bring the deficit to 13. BYU fans were sensing some momentum as they stood up, but Arizona had a big answer from Ivan Kharchenov streaking to the basket for a layup to silence the crowd.
Under-4: Arizona 76, BYU 63
Jaden Bradley knocked down a big three-pointer to put Arizona up 76-62, then Tommy Lloyd quickly called a timeout to take down the crowd noise from the fans, who were trying to generate some momentum for BYU.
Final: No. 1 Arizona, No. 13 BYU 83
BYU nearly erased an 11-point deficit in the final 1:22 of action.
It started with AJ Dybantsa getting fouled while shooting a three-pointer by Brayden Burries. Dybantsa only hit one of the three free throw attempts.
However, the miss on the third attempt led to Richie Saunders grabbing the offensive rebound and finding Rob Wright III for a three-point, giving BYU a four-point possession.
BYU got it down to six points after a Keba Keita and-one opportunity.
Keita missed the free throw, Arizona’s Kharchenkov grabbed the rebound, AJ Dybantsa stole it under the hoop, and went up for a shot.
While shooting, Brayden Burries pulled Dybantsa’s arm down, resulting in a flagrant one foul call.
Dybantsa then knocked down both free throws, putting BYU’s deficit at four with 35.4 seconds remaining.
The craziness continued as BYU had an alley-oop with 19.4 remaining.
Then Jaden Bradley was called for an offensive foul with BYU down three.
AJ Dybantsa missed a three, but Keba Keita had a putback to get it down to one.
Then there was a jump-ball call, with possession awarded to BYU.
BYU had one final possession to get the win. Rob Wright put up a shot near the paint and Burries came up with the block.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast daily on KSL Sports YouTube and KSL NewsRadio (SUBSCRIBE). Harper also co-hosts Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL NewsRadio.
Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU athletics in the Big 12 Conference on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram: @Mitch_Harper.
