No. 14 Kansas Builds Big Lead, Holds Off No. 13 BYU
Jan 31, 2026, 6:27 PM | Updated: 10:00 pm
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Another slow start buried BYU. This time, it was a loss at Kansas.
No. 13 BYU lost to No. 14 Kansas 90-82 in the 1,000th game at Allen Fieldhouse.
BYU found themselves down 20 at the half before trying to mount a comeback led by Richie Saunders, who finished with a career-high 33 points.
The marquee matchup of AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson saw Dybantsa finish with 17 points, while Peterson had 18 in 20 minutes of action.
Peterson didn’t play in the final 16 minutes due to cramps.
Richie Saunders finished with a career-high 33 points in the loss.
Here’s a recap of what took place inside Allen Fieldhouse.
Final: Kansas 90, BYU 82 pic.twitter.com/bMnXXyKTYk
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) January 31, 2026
First Half
Under-16: Kansas 12, BYU 7
Darryn Peterson opened the game strong with seven points and a steal. He had a three-pointer over Rob Wright III, where he pulled up and drilled it.
Under-12: Kansas 22, BYU 14
Kansas was playing excellent defense, taking away the driving lanes. Some of BYU’s reserves seemed starry-eyed by the venue, throwing up some ill-advised shots.
Under-8: Kansas 33, BYU 17
AJ Dybantsa’s first bucket of the game comes at the 7:22 mark, a three-pointer, to end a 13-0 Kansas run.
Kansas is at 71% shooting from 3-point range, while BYU was at 18%.
Under-4: Kansas 45, BYU 24
Kansas was eight-of-10 from 3-point range at the under-four timeout. Bryson Tiller, who had not hit a three in Big 12 play, opened the game going 3-of-3 from distance, which included back-to-back corner threes.
Halftime: Kansas 53, BYU 33
Darryn Peterson had the highlight of the first half with a slam dunk over Keba Keita and Mihailo Boskovic.
It was pretty clear that this game was one that Peterson was counting down.
Peterson led all scorers at the break with 18 points. Dybantsa scored seven in the first half.
Second Half
Under-16: Kansas 60, BYU 45
Richie Saunders provided some life to BYU with seven points in the opening stretch of play.
Saunders had an excellent slam dunk, then AJ Dybantsa knocked down a three, followed by Saunders drawing an and-one on a corner three.
Under-12: Kansas 66, BYU 50
AJ Dybantsa started to get in a groove offensively with a pair of free throws, a midrange bucket, then drawing a foul before the media timeout.
During his first free throw attempts of the game at the 12:40 mark, the crowd was raining down chants of “Overrated” as Dybantsa knocked down the two free throws.
Kansas star Darryn Peterson has been out since the 16:46 mark.
Under-8: Kansas 78, BYU 63
Richie Saunders won’t let BYU go down easy.
Saunders came up with an offensive rebound after a missed free throw by AJ Dybantsa, the senior leader went back and drew a foul.
Saunders then knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to get up to 27 points.
Under-4: Kansas 80, BYU 71
Richie Saunders knocked down another three to bring the deficit to single digits.
During the timeout break, Allen Fieldhouse probably made BYU feel at home as they started to play “Turbulence,” a fixture at the under-four timeout during BYU home games.
FINAL: Kansas 90, BYU 82
BYU trimmed it down to a four-point deficit after Rob Wright hit two free throws.
Then Melvin Council hit the dagger with 52.9 to go to give Kansas the victory.
BYU falls to 5-3 in Big 12 play.
Next up for BYU is a road game at Oklahoma State in Stillwater, on Wednesday, February 4 at 7 p.m. (MST) on FS1 and KSL NewsRadio.
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.
