Dybantsa drops 30 in 1st college outing, a 1-point exhibition loss at Nebraska

PROVO — AJ Dybantsa was nearly everything he was expected to be in his first (unofficial) college basketball game Saturday in BYU's exhibition opener at Nebraska.

The Cougars' defense, though? Not so much.

Dybantsa had 30 points, seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block, but Rienk Mast and Connor Essegian combined for 51 points in a 90-89 win over BYU at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Price Sandfort added 12 points for the Huskers, who were picked to finish 14th of 18 teams in the Big Ten by league media. Mast canned seven triples en route to 31 points, five rebounds and three assists, and Essegian added 20 points and three assists.

Khadim Mboup had 12 points and 11 rebounds for BYU, which was picked No. 2 in the Big 12. Richie Saunders and Aleksej Kostic each scored 11 for the Cougars.

In a scrimmage-like meeting between potential NBA draft picks, the 6-foot-10, 250-pound Mast was just as impressive as Dybantsa, shooting 11-of-15 from the field, 7-of-8 from 3-point range and grabbing five rebounds with three assists in 29 minutes.

"He's tough. … I would draft him first, too," Dybantsa said of Mast, echoing his coach.

The biggest difference in Saturday's exhibition opener was the 3-point line, where BYU was solid — and Nebraska beyond stellar, shooting 16-of-34 from deep to send fans in Lincoln home with a smile.

"If you look at our early season 'real' schedule, it's pretty jam-packed," BYU coach Kevin Young said after the game in Lincoln. "We want to test ourselves. I know a little bit about this place; my wife is from Omaha, and her family comes to all of these games. I've heard about the atmosphere here, as well.

"We got what we wanted out of it."

BYU's first starting five included two familiar faces in Saunders and Keba Keita, along with newcomers Dybantsa, Baylor transfer point guard Rob Wright III, and Southern Illinois transfer Kennard "Moo" Davis Jr.

And Dybantsa was as-advertised early, scoring 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting (and 5-of-5 from the free-throw line with four rebounds, three steals and an assist in his first 13 minutes of college basketball (exhibitionally, that is) against an opponent.

But Mast, the senior transfer from Bradley and the Netherlands, made five 3-pointers in the first half en route to 19 points as the Huskers led by as many as 6 points with 3:06 left in the half.

But Dybantsa ended the half with a pair of 3-pointers, and Wright added 8 points and five assists to help the Cougars come back.

Dybantsa finished with 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range and 5-of-5 from the free-throw line, to go with five rebounds, three steals, an assist and a block before the break.

"Any time we lose, I set myself to a high standard; we've got to win for me to feel like it was a good game," said Dybantsa, a former top-rated recruit and project NBA draft lottery pick. "But I think we meshed with the team well. I kind of had jitters in my first college game. But I think I played solid."

Wright totaled 8 points and five assists as BYU ended the first half on a 10-0 run to take a 50-46 advantage into the break. The former Big 12 all-freshman honoree who sat out last week's blue-white scrimmage did not play in the second half.

"Rob's obviously on a minutes restriction," Young said. "I really had three things I wanted to look at in this game: our starters together, then Rob out and AJ with shooters around him, and then a defensive group. In between that, it was fuzzy with the lineups that we had.

"I feel good about learning more about our group based on those three criteria — and no matter who we had out there, being able to play a team like that is really well-coached … was a good thing for us to experience."

Both teams shot better than 45% from the field in the first half. But Nebraska connected on 83.6% of his shots to open the second half, and Garcia dropped the Huskers' fifth 3-pointer in less than seven minutes to take a 71-59 lead with 13:09 left.

Nebraska connected on 7-of-14 triples in the second half, enough to hold off BYU's 37-34 rebounding edge.

Dybantsa capped a 9-2 spurt to help BYU pull within three, 88-85 with less than three minutes to play. But the five-star freshman subbed out for good with 1:41 to go, and the Cougars shot just 7-of-14 from deep in getting no closer until Mboup hit a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left to pull within one.

Kostic, who also had three rebounds and three 3-pointers in 11 minutes, had a look at a go-ahead 3-pointer with 4 seconds left. But his shot was off the mark.

BYU returns home for its second exhibition game Friday against No. 25 North Carolina. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. MDT at the Delta Center before the Nov. 3 season opener against Villanova in Las Vegas.

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