BYU cruises past Kansas State in Big 12 Tournament thanks to AJ Dybantsa’s big night
Mar 10, 2026, 9:00 PM | Updated: Mar 11, 2026, 12:02 pm
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – BYU basketball is moving on in the 2026 Big 12 Tournament.
No. 10-seed BYU defeated 15-seed Kansas State in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament.
View this post on Instagram
BYU won 105-91, behind 40 points from star freshman AJ Dybantsa.
First Half
Under-16: K-State 5, BYU 4
BYU had an opportunity to jump out to a 7-0 lead, but a missed three by Aleksej Kostic led to Kansas State settling in.
Under-12: BYU 23, K-State 18
K-State’s Nate Johnson started to knock down multiple threes from the spot at the top of the arc.
BYU was also knocking down buckets, with great shot-making by both teams.
Under-8: BYU 36, K-State 26
Keba Keita tripped over K-State’s Taj Manning’s foot, causing him to take a hard fall and gingerly walk off to the locker room.
Fans were getting restless about some of Tony Padilla’s officiating.
Under-4: K-State 43, BYU 41
Kansas State put together an 11-0 run that forced Kevin Young to call a timeout at the 5:19 mark.
The Wildcats were shooting 70% from three-point range.
The good news for BYU is that Keba Keita did return to the court after a brief visit to the locker room.
Halftime: BYU 50, K-State 49
BYU closed the half on a 7-0 run in less than a minute. On the final possession, K-State’s CJ Jones slipped, causing a turnover. That allowed Rob Wright III to gather possession and toss it to AJ Dybantsa for a fastbreak slam dunk to close out the half.
Second Half
Under-16: BYU 68, K-State 60
K-State’s Khamari McGriff had a missed free throw that led to BYU fans in attendance at the T-Mobile Center to begin chanting, “Chick-fil-A! Chick-fil-A!” An homage to what takes place at games in the Marriott Center.
McGriff missed the second free throw.
Kennard Davis and Aleksej Kostic were red-hot to open the second half, with both players knocking down a pair of triples.
Under-12: BYU 75, K-State 67
AJ Dybantsa reached 30 points with 11:52 remaining. He scored 31 points on only 19 field goal attempts.
Under-8: BYU 83, K-State 73
Dominique Diomande provided some great minutes for BYU with Rob Wright exiting the game.
Diomande deflected a Kansas State inbounds pass, then on the offensive end, AJ Dybantsa recognized the effort from his teammate, and dished him a pass as Diomande was cutting the middle of the lane for a finish.
Under-4: BYU 98, K-State 75
BYU has an elite ability to score in bunches in a hurry. The rout was on late in the game after Kansas State was hovering on for a large portion of the first round clash.
Final: BYU 105, K-State 91
AJ Dybantsa finished with 40 points, passing Kevin Durant for a Big 12 Tournament freshman single-game scoring record.
Next up for BYU is a matchup against No. 7-seed West Virginia on Wednesday at 5 p.m. (MDT) on ESPN2 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 BYUathletics in the Big 12 Conference on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram: @Mitch_Harper.
