BY ALEJANDRO LOPEZ
BYU’s superstar freshman is the real deal.
AJ Dybantsa continues to make his case to be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft as he dropped a freshman record 43 points in a 91-78 victory against the Utah Utes on Saturday.
Dybantsa’s performance came on a day when two other college freshmen also dropped 40+. Keaton Wagler put up 46 as No. 11 Illinois beat No. 4 Purdue, 88-82. And Houston’s Kingston Flemings went for 42 points as the No. 6 Cougars lost to No. 12 Texas Tech, 90-86.
“That was impressive,” BYU head coach Kevin Young said of Dybantsa. “In my mind I was thinking “man, this is a special player.” I’ve said it a lot, I think he is the clear cut number one pick in the NBA draft coming up. It was on full display tonight. He was doing it every which way… I need to give credit to the team, I thought the execution was probably as good as it’s been all year. We were moving AJ around a little more than we usually do because of how they guarded him. It was harder to double team him and our guys did a good job screening and getting him the ball. Hopefully everyone will look back on this night and have fond memories of it.”
The 2025-26 freshman class is one of the deepest and most talented classes college basketball has seen in a long time, but Dybantsa may very well be the cream of the crop.
The 6-foot-9 freshman is averaging 22.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game for BYU.
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