KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Freshman AJ Dybantsa scored a freshman Big 12 Tournament record 40 points, as 10-seed BYU ended Kansas State’s season with a 105-91 win in the first round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament on Tuesday night at the T-Mobile Center.
With the win, BYU (22-10) advances to play 7-seed West Virginia (18-13) in the second round on Wednesday night at 6 p.m., CT, while K-State (12-20) sees its season end.
The 40 points by the Big 12 Freshman of the Year surpassed the previous freshman tournament record of 37 points by Texas’ Kevin Durant against Kansas on March 11, 2007. It was just the second 40-point game in the history of the Big 12 Tournament and the first since Texas Tech’s Mike Singletary scored a tournament-record 43 points against Texas A&M in March 11, 2009.
Dybantsa scored his 40 points on 15-of-21 field goals, including 2-of-6 from 3-point range, and 8-of-9 free throws to go with 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals in 37 minutes. He was joined in double figures by junior Kennard Davis Jr. (15 points), sophomore Robert Wright III (14 points) and freshman Aleksej Kostic (11 points). Freshman Khadim Mboup had a game-high 14 rebounds.
The 105 points were the most scored by a team at the Big 12 Tournament, as the Cougars shot 54.8 percent (40-of-73) from the field, including better than 50 percent in each half, with 50 points in the paint, 22 fast-break points and 18 points off turnovers.
K-State recorded its first 90-point game in a Big 12 Tournament game and the first in any conference tournament game since scoring 101 points against Iowa State in 1980. The Wildcats shot 50.8 percent (32-of-63) from the field with a Big 12 Tournament-high 13 made 3-pointers on 56.5 percent (13-of-23) shooting. It marked the 14th game of the season with double-digit 3-pointers, as the team ended the season with a school-record 302 made 3-pointers.
Junior P.J. Haggerty led four Wildcats in double figures with 27 points on 8-of-20 field goals, including 2-of-4 from 3-point range, and 9-of-11 free throws to go with 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in 37 minutes. It tied for the second-most points by a Wildcat at the Big 12 Tournament and the most since Makol Mawien had 29 points vs. Kansas on March 9, 2018.
It was Haggerty’s 23rd 20-point game of the season, which is the second-most by a Wildcat in a single season and the most since Michael Beasley had a record 26 in 2007-08. He scored in double figures in all 31 games played, while leading the team in scoring 28 times.
Haggerty was joined in double figures by seniors Nate Johnson (19 points), Khamari McGriff (13 points) and C.J. Jones (10 points).
In a game that went back and forth, it was a 13-0 run over the first and second halves that gave BYU the lead for good. K-State overcame a 10-point first-half deficit with an 11-0 run that the Wildcats rode to a 49-43 lead with 1:28 to play. However, the Cougars scored the last 7 points of the half to go ahead 50-49 at the break before adding the first 6 points of the second half.
The lead grew to 11 points before a 10-2 run by the Wildcats cut the deficit to 70-67 at the 12:44 mark. However, it would go no closer as the Cougars scored 22 of the next 29 points to extend their lead to 19 points (92-73) with 5:32 remaining. The lead grew to 23 with just over 4 minutes to play before a late surge made for the final 105-91 margin.
It marked the seventh and final game for interim head coach Matthew Driscoll, who was named to the position on Feb. 15. He finishes 2-5 in the role.
FIRST HALF
The first of 4 made 3-pointers by senior Nate Johnson gave K-State its first lead, which grew to 15-10 before BYU answered with 13 of the next 16 points to go ahead 23-18 and force Matthew Driscoll to use his first timeout at the 11:44 mark. The timeout didn’t stop the momentum, as the Cougars extended their lead to 36-26 at the third media timeout with 7:56 before halftime.
Consecutive 3-pointers by junior P.J. Haggerty ignited an 11-0 run that gave K-State its first lead in more than 7 minutes, forcing a timeout by coach Kevin Young at the 5:19 mark. The Cougars tied it at 37-all on a free throw by AJ Dybantsa on the next possession before the Wildcats scored 12 of the next 18 points to go ahead 49-43 after a steal and layup by Haggerty. However, BYU ended the half with 7 straight points, including a steal and dunk by Dybantsa, to go ahead 50-49 at the break.
Both teams shot better than 55 percent from the field, as K-State shot 62.1 percent (18-of-29), including 63.6 percent (7-of-11) from 3-point range, compared to 56.8 percent (21-of-37) for BYU. Dybantsa led all scorers with 21 points, while Haggerty had 18 points for the Wildcats.
SECOND HALF
BYU continued the momentum to start the second half with consecutive 3-pointers, as the Cougars scored 14 of the half’s first 20 points to extend their lead to 64-55, prompting a timeout by Driscoll at the 16:54 mark. The lead grew to 68-57 before a fifth 3-pointer by Johnson made it 68-60 at the first media timeout with just over 15 minutes to play.
The 3-pointer by Johnson was followed by a 3-pointer from junior Taj Manning, 2 free throws by Haggerty and a Manning jumper, as K-State cut the deficit to 70-67. However, 5 straight points from BYU pushed the lead back to 8 points before the second media timeout.
Two more free throws by Haggerty and a layup by freshman Andrej Kostic got the Wildcats to within 76-71, prompting a timeout by Young with 9:39 remaining. The timeout worked, as the Cougars scored 7 of the next 9 points to go back ahead by double figures (83-73) then added 5 more points to make it 88-73, prompting another timeout by Driscoll with 7:01 to play.
The run continued out of the timeout, as BYU scored 10 of the next 12 points to go ahead 98-75 with less than 4 minutes to play. K-State was able to close the final margin 14 points (105-91) with 16 of the last 23 points.
Dybantsa led all scorers with 19 points.
