Freshmen will play a vital role in Arizona’s first Big 12 matchup of the season against a ranked opponent when the Wildcats visit No. 13 BYU on Monday night in Provo, Utah.
ESPN will televise the Big Monday showdown at 7 p.m. with Jon Sciambi and Fran Fraschilla describing the action. Brian Jeffries, the Voice of the Wildcats, and Reggie Geary will call the game at Wildcats Radio 1290-AM.
The Wildcats (20-0, 7-0 Big 12) routed West Virginia 88-53 at home on Saturday behind freshman Brayden Burries’ 22 points. The guard was last year’s Gatorade Player of the Year in California, a five-star recruit and the No. 9 prospect in the nation, per 247Sports.
Combined with freshman leading scorer Koa Peat (14.7 points per game), Burries (14.6) gives the Wildcats a pair of freshmen as leaders in Tommy Lloyd’s rotation.
BYU’s headliner is freshman AJ Dybantsa, who set the program freshman scoring mark with 43 points in the 91-78 win over visiting Utah on Saturday.
A potential No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, Dybantsa connected on 15 of 24 field goal attempts, drained 4 of 5 shots from 3-point range and shot 9 of 10 from the free throw line. He also had six rebounds and three assists.
Dybantsa, Peat and Burries are first-round prospects for the NBA draft.
Lloyd expected Burries to thrive at this point of his first season given his background in California.
“I’m not putting a ceiling on any of these guys,” Lloyd said. “Brayden is getting a lot of confidence. Brayden has amazing instincts for a young basketball player. Now I think he’s layering that with some experience where maybe he understands what’s happening before it’s coming a little bit.
“That allows him to manipulate certain situations and he’s responding to situations in the game as opposed to reacting. That’s natural growth for a young player. He’s kind of in his sweet spot. I felt like January would be a big month for him to make a big jump and it looks like he is.”
Arizona has been the No. 1 team in the nation for seven weeks. The Wildcats average 89.8 points per game and only allow 67.6. The 21-point scoring margin ranks fifth nationally.
The lone loss for BYU (17-2, 5-1 Big 12) in conference play was 84-71 at Texas Tech two weeks ago. The Cougars also lost 86-84 against UConn at Boston on Nov. 15.
Robert Wright III added 21 points and Richie Saunders chipped in 12 points in Saturday’s win over Utah.
Dybantsa scored a season-low 13 points in the loss to Texas Tech. He bounced back strong against Utah and is averaging 23.6 points a game.
“I was impressed while he was doing it,” BYU coach Kevin Young said of Dybantsa’s performance. “In my mind, he’s a special player. I’ve said it a lot. I think he is, hands down, the clear-cut No. 1 pick in the upcoming NBA draft … The thing I like about it more than anything is it’s coming off his worst performance of the year. He wasn’t good at Texas Tech and he came out unfazed and had a clear want to go out and dominate a game.”
Lloyd coached Dybantsa and Peat last summer with the United States’ gold medal-winning FIBA U19 World Cup team.
“I didn’t coach him any differently than anybody else,” Lloyd said. “AJ, for basically a month was great. We just treated him like everybody else. I think that’s what he wants. All the things he had had nothing to do with me. They were 100% natural and authentic to who he was. Talent, not selfishness, not afraid of the moment. Just a super impressive young man and basketball player.”
Arizona and BYU split two games last season, with each team winning on the opponent’s home court. Arizona won the first meeting 85-74 in Provo. BYU then went to Tucson and escaped with a 96-95 victory.
The loss for Arizona ended controversially with referee Tony Padilla calling a blocking foul in the waning seconds on Arizona from midcourt although the play occurred on the baseline near the basket. Saunders made two free throws to give BYU the victory.
NOTES
— The Wildcats are a victory away from matching the program-record 21-0 start in 2013-14.
— The 20 consecutive wins mark just the third time in program history – since 1904-05 – that Arizona has won 20 straight games. The school record is 22 from 1914-17.
— Under Lloyd, Arizona is 26-13 against Top 25 opponents. The .667 winning percentage is second in the country since 2021-22, trailing only UConn (.674).
— Over the last three games, Motiejus Krivas is averaging 15.0 points, 11.0 rebounds and shooting 69.6% from the floor (making both of his 3-point attempts) and 84% at the free throw line.
— Arizona’s 32 road wins since the start of the 2021-22 season are third-most in the country among major conference teams. Duke has the most at 36, followed by UConn with 33.
— Arizona is 8-0 in Quad 1 games this season, tied with Duke for the most Q1 wins in the country.
— In Big 12 play, Arizona leads the league in field goal percentage (.508), field goal percentage defense (.391), 3FG% defense (.286), and assist/turnover ratio (2.03).
— As a team, the Wildcats rank among the nation’s best in rebound margin (second), scoring margin (fifth), field goal percentage (seventh), and fastbreak points (10th).
— The Wildcats have made 391 free thows this season. Opponents have attempted 343.
— Arizona has shot 50% or better from the floor in 23 of 40 halves and 12 of 20 games this year.
— Arizona is second in the country in points in the paint/game (45.9) via CBBAnalytics
— When it comes to “Kill Shots” – a run of 10-0 or greater, Arizona has 24 and has allowed just one (via EvanMiya)
— Only once this season has the same player led Arizona in scoring in back-to-back games.
— Seven different players have scored 20 or more points in a game this season.
— Burries leads Arizona with six 20-point games this season after a 22-point effort against West Virginia. He also had seven assists and no turnovers in the game. He is shooting 59% on 2-point field goals this season.
— Peat leads UA in scoring in Big 12 games (15.7 points per game) and has four double-doubles this season. He had 17 points, seven rebounds, two blocks against the Mountaineers on Saturday.
— Tobe Awaka leads the country in offensive rebounds/40 minutes (7.8). He scored a career-high 25 points against Arizona State on Jan. 14 and is nearly averaging a double-double in Big 12 play — 11.4 points and 9,1 rebounds.
— Jaden Bradley is 9 of 13 from the floor (69%) in clutch time this season, according to CBBAnalytics;
— Ivan Kharchenkov is second on the team with 33 steals this season; he’s averaging 10 points per game in Big 12 play.
— BYU’s lost loss at the Marriott Center was against Arizona. The Cougars have rolled off 13 straight victories with nine of those wins coming this season. Including its current streak, BYU has more double digit wins streaks (13) since 2000 than they have consecutive losses (5). With their win over the Utes on
Saturday, the Cougars have won 81.0% of their games at the Marriott Center since it was opened in 1971.
–During its current 13-game home win streak that began with a 80-65 victory over Kansas Sate on Feb. 15, 2025, BYU is outscoring opponents by 24.5 points per game while shooting 51.5 percent from the field, 35.8 percent from 3-point range and 75.9 percent from the free-throw line. They have also scored 90 or more points in five of their last seven games at the Marriott Center including a 109-81 win over Eastern Washington.
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