No. 16 BYU faces Baylor in uncharted — and unwanted — waters
Heading into its game Tuesday night against Baylor in Waco, Texas, No. 22 BYU finds itself in a spot that it's never been since joining the Big 12 -- on a four-game losing streak.
The Cougars (17-6, 5-5) suffered a 77-66 home loss to then-No. 8 Houston on Saturday, setting their season-low mark in points scored and losing for a fourth straight time -- their longest skid since joining the Big 12 in 2023-24 -- and for a fifth time in their last six games. Four of the five losses have come against ranked teams, something that coach Kevin Young acknowledged afterward as his squad has fallen short against tough opponents.
"We're upset that we didn't win the game. Another great opportunity that we let go, which unfortunately for us has been too many against the highest-caliber teams in the country," he said. "We can't seem to finish the job, and that's disappointing. However, I was happy with the response. ... I did think they responded, which for me, was going to be an 'I'm going to learn a lot about our group' type of game.
"Again, disappointed we didn't pull the win out, but I thought the response out of the guys, given the stretch that we're going through, was admirable."
BYU and Houston were tied with less than 10 minutes left before Houston pulled away. The silver lining for BYU has been standout freshman AJ Dybantsa, who continues to dazzle and has the potential to take over a game.
Dybantsa, who leads the nation in scoring at 24.0 points per game, finished with 28 points, five rebounds and four assists in the loss. Houston coach Kelvin Sampson had high praise for Dybantsa, one of the top NBA draft prospects who will be analyzed by the "Inside the NBA" crew next season.
"He's going to be doing that with Kenny (Smith) and Charles (Barkley) and (Shaquille O'Neal) commenting on him pretty soon," Sampson said of the "Inside the NBA" stars. "There's no shame giving up 28 to that kid."
While Dybantsa is the unquestioned star, the Cougars have other big-time scoring threats in Richie Saunders (19.0 points per game) and Robert Wright III (17.3 ppg). Wright will see familiar faces as he averaged 11.5 points for Baylor last season.
For Baylor (13-10, 3-8), it's about getting back to the win column after a 72-69 loss at then-No. 7 Iowa State on Saturday.
The Bears had won two straight over West Virginia and Colorado before the loss to the Cyclones. Still, Baylor seems to be trending in the right direction after a disappointing season to date.
"From a coaching standpoint, I wish we would've gotten our team to this point about a month ago," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "Unfortunately, it's not until now. Really proud of how far they've come. We are a different team than we were at the beginning of conference (play) and I'm proud of that."
Cameron Carr leads the Bears in scoring, averaging 19.6 per game. He had 24 points in the loss at Iowa State. Tounde Yessoufou has emerged as the Bears' other top threat, averaging 17.7 points per game.
BYU has won the past two matchups in the series, although Baylor won the last time the teams met in Waco during the 2023-24 season.