Keba Keita Rises Up To Stuff Utah Dunk Attempt At Rim

PROVO, Utah – BYU center Keba Keita gave the Cougars the first-half energy boost they needed as he stuffed Keanu Dawes’ dunk attempt.

In the first half against his former team, Keita recorded four points, three rebounds, and an emphatic rejection.

. @Keba_Keita_13 met him at the rim ❌

📺 ESPNU pic.twitter.com/IYaPktuJze

— BYU Men’s Basketball (@BYUMBB) March 9, 2025

Following the defensive highlight, BYU rolled out on a 10-5 run to take their first lead in nearly eight minutes.

The story of the first half for the Cougars was shooting struggles. After missing their first 13 three-point attempts, six of the 10 points in the late run came off their first two triples.

They briefly let go of the lead before rallying again late to take a 34-30 lead going into halftime.

Dallin Hall at the buzzer!

BYU has some momentum going into the halftime break.

BYU 34, Utah 30

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) March 9, 2025

BYU’s bench significantly outscored its starters in the first half. Both of the Cougars’ leading scorers at the break, Dawson Baker and Mihailo Boskovic, started the game on the sideline.

Despite of the shooting struggles, Keiba and the other Cougar starters did all of the little things to help them hold a lead through the first 20.

Cougars Close Out Season With Rivalry Home Game Against Utah

To close out the Big 12 basketball regular season, longtime rivals BYU and Utah will face off for the second time this year.

The Cougars have won seven in a row and hold the fourth spot in the conference. The Utes have one win in their last four games and are down at 11th.

BYU’s season has been more or less consistent while Utah has been on a rollercoaster of highs and lows. Ironically, the Utes’ peak was back in mid-January when they snuck out a one-point overtime win over BYU at home.

Since that game, Utah has gone 5-8 and slowly fell down the Big 12 standings. Meanwhile, BYU has gone 11-2 in that same period and looks stronger with every game that passes. If the Utes want to pull off another rivalry upset, it will be much tougher the second time around.

BYU Gameday Reading

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• BYU Will Have New Royal CougarTail For Utah Game
• No. 23 BYU Holds On For Memorable 2OT Win At No. 10 Iowa State
• Takeaways From BYU’s ‘Toughness’ Win Over Iowa State
• BYU’s Keba Keita Lands On SportsCenter Top 10 Plays For Iowa State Block
• BYU’s Kevin Young Named Finalist For Coach Of The Year Award

Follow BYU with KSL Sports

Mitch Harper is the BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.

Follow the BYU Cougars with KSL Sports here.

Chandler Holt is a co-host of the Jazz Notes podcast, a Locals In The NFL Insider, and Digital Sports Producer for sports.ksl.com. Follow Chandler on X for Utah Jazz and Locals In The NFL updates.

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