TUCSON, Ariz. — Kevin Young has said he isn’t a “moral victory guy.”
Even if he was, too much went wrong for BYU Wednesday night against No. 4 Arizona to truly qualify as such.
The Cougars were frigid from 3-point range, while allowing the Wildcats to hit 43% of their triples. BYU didn’t have enough scoring outside of AJ Dybantsa and Rob Wright III, gave up too many offensive rebounds, and watched another individual opponent enjoy a career night offensively — take a bow, Anthony Dell’Orso.
Advertisement
Chalking up the 75-68 loss at McKale Center as a moral victory would be a stretch. But even so, don’t dismiss the effort entirely. BYU offered plenty of reasons for optimism.
“Super disappointed we weren’t able to get the win. We have a locker room that isn’t going to go away, I can tell you that right now. It’s going to be a dogfight every time you play BYU, and we’re going to keep pounding that rock until it breaks. It will break for us eventually.”
BYU coach Kevin Young
The rematch with Arizona was essentially the start of a new season for the Cougars, who are scrambling to navigate life without Richie Saunders, their fourth victim of a season-ending injury.
BYU is reinventing itself, as Young puts it, where “everything is on the table” in order to right the ship.
“This is a resilient group. In all my years of coaching, I have never had four guys get hurt for the season. We’re going through it,” Young told reporters postgame. “That’s sports, that’s life. I’m proud of our guys for their effort tonight and their effort in practice the last couple days. We’re trying to reinvent ourselves on the fly, and I think there were a lot of good things that happened tonight.
Advertisement
“Super disappointed we weren’t able to get the win. We have a locker room that isn’t going to go away, I can tell you that right now. It’s going to be a dogfight every time you play BYU, and we’re going to keep pounding that rock until it breaks. It will break for us eventually.”
Wednesday’s dogfight saw BYU hang with the mighty but shorthanded Wildcats for nearly all of the first half, holding a lead for just under five minutes and appearing up for the tall task at hand.
In fact, BYU led at the first media timeout for the first time in a Big 12 road game all season. Credit to the Cougars for avoiding another slow start and finally being able to bury one of the craziest stats of the year.
Advertisement
But after trailing by a single point in the final minute before halftime, BYU gave up two Dell’Orso 3-pointers and a Jaden Bradley bucket off a turnover to go into intermission down by seven.
Arizona built a 16-point advantage in the second half, only for the Cougars to nearly erase it with a late 18-7 surge. The rally ultimately fell short — add it to BYU’s pile of unsuccessful comebacks this season.
The Cougars, as they’ve shown many times already, just don’t quit, even when their circumstances are pure chaos. The fight against Arizona was admirable, especially considering no one likely would have batted an eye had heavy underdog BYU been blown out.
Again, it’s not a moral victory. But BYU’s attitude can be a strength down the stretch.
Advertisement
“You’re playing against a historic program that has had a fantastic year. They were down guys too, but you’re in their house. We know how hard it is to play here,” Young told reporters postgame. “Our response, our compete, our ‘want to’ was high.
“In a matter of two and half days, we upheaved our offense where we started doing things we haven’t done all year. I thought some things that we did tonight were executed extremely well just given the situation that we’re in. So those are things that we want to build on.”
The return of vintage Keba Keita
February had not been kind to Keita, with BYU’s senior big man both struggling on the court and dealing with a hand injury.
Advertisement
But against Arizona, Keita grabbed nine rebounds and swatted four blocks in a season-high 30 minutes, with his trademark intensity returning in full force.
“He’s going through a lot, he’s had some injuries, he’s had some stuff going on, and for him to battle through it, I thought he just lost himself in the game tonight which was good,” Young said. “He made some huge plays that were very Keba-esque that we’re used to, you know, and we need every bit of that. He’s a big-time competitor, beautiful young man.”
Playing with two fingers bandaged on his right hand, Keita’s nine rebounds were his most in more than a month, and four blocks was his best mark since Thanksgiving.
Advertisement
With Keita anchoring the defense, BYU allowed just 1.11 points per possession, its lowest mark against a top-six Big 12 squad.
“I was happy that he was able to have some success tonight, and I really hope that it is a springboard for him for the rest of the season,” Young said.
Kennard Davis Jr. stepping up offensively
Only two BYU players posted a positive plus/minus mark against Arizona: Khadim Mboup (more on him later) and Davis.
Davis finished with 10 points despite not attempting a shot of any kind in the first half. BYU ran a number of featured plays for him down the stretch, scoring on 69% of his overall possessions.
Advertisement
BYU’s best offensive success against Arizona involved Davis. With Saunders out, the Cougars will need to do everything they can to keep him involved.
“I give him a lot of credit because in a lot of ways, you know, he was brought in here to do a role that was a lot different than the role he had last year (at Southern Illinois),” Young said of Davis.
“We were trying to use him as a 3-and-D, kind of catch-and-shoot guy, and really he’s got a lot more to offer than that. So in a lot of ways, I’ve kind of held him hostage, and now he’s free to make a lot more plays, and we’re gonna need every bit of it.”
Did BYU find its new go-to lineup?
When Young said BYU would explore new lineup combinations to combat Saunders’ absence, he wasn’t kidding.
Advertisement
The Cougars used a whopping 17 unique lineups against the Wildcats, with only two being repeated at any point.
Replacing Saunders in the starting five was Mihailo Boskovic, who was promptly pulled after missing two 3-pointers.
Additionally, Tyler Mrus and Aleksej Kostic played a combined 20 minutes, only to attempt just four shots between them with one make.
“Tyler and Aleksej have to come in and make shots. Mihailo has to knock shots down,” Young said. “… We will continue to examine how to put other guys in positions where they can be effective.”
Some of the lineups got really funky — for example, centers Keita and Abdullah Ahmed shared the floor for nearly three minutes in the second half — but the most common combination ended up being BYU’s most successful.
Advertisement
In 9 minutes and 22 seconds of action together, Wright, Dybantsa, Davis, Keita and Mboup outscored Arizona by a 24-13 margin.
The four established starters plus Mboup started the second half for BYU and reassembled later to man the entirety of the late 18-7 rally, facing various combinations of Arizona’s five starters and sixth man Dell’Orso.
Mboup finished as BYU’s team leader in plus/minus at plus nine. Although he only scored four points with two rebounds and a steal in 21 minutes off the bench, when he was on the floor, the Cougars scored on 83% of their possessions.
It’s understandable why Boskovic got the starting nod against Arizona, considering his size, veteran savvy and ability to space the floor.
Advertisement
But perhaps Mboup will be the long-term solution in BYU’s starting five. He’s developed well throughout the season and has proven to be a difference-maker when thrust into action, especially against Arizona.
“I was pleasantly surprised at how well we executed some of the new stuff we tried,” Young said, referring to the new-look lineups. “But look, everything’s on the table.”
Kevin Young huddles with his team during BYU’s game against Arizona on Feb. 18, 2026 at McKale Center in Tucson. | Nate Edwards
