BYU lost 79-71 to Texas in the first round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Moda Center on March 19.
The loss ends BYU’s season after a competitive game against the Longhorns. The Cougars, seeded sixth, faced an early deficit and were unable to recover despite a strong second-half effort.
Head coach Kevin Young said, “I thought for our guys, I was disappointed in our first half defensive effort and intensity and rebounding. We knew the game was going to get won there. We talked a lot about rebounding coming into this game, so that was a little disappointing. Then our guys fought their tails off in the second half. In a lot of ways it was representative of our season. We faced a lot of challenges this year, just like we did in this game. We battled back. That’s the mantra of this group. They never quit. I’m really proud of the group.”
Freshman AJ Dybantsa led BYU with 35 points and 10 rebounds, marking his fifth double-double of the season and closing his freshman campaign with 894 points—the third-most by a freshman in NCAA Division I history. Dybantsa also surpassed Devin Durrant on BYU’s single-season scoring list.
Robert Wright III contributed 14 points along with three assists, two rebounds, and two steals. He and Dybantsa became only the second duo in program history to surpass 1,500 combined points in one season.
Despite several runs by BYU throughout both halves—including key plays from Kennard Davis Jr., Keba Keita, Aleksej Kostic, and others—Texas maintained its lead through timely shooting and free throws late in the game.
