Kennard Davis goes for 18 in return from suspension as No. 9 BYU upends Miami

PROVO — Kennard Davis Jr. took a pass from teammate Robert Wright III on the right elbow, set his feet, and let it fly at the State Farm Fieldhouse inside ESPN's Wide World of Sports complex in central Florida.

Swish came the familiar sound of the net as the shot-clock buzzer sounded with 2:27 remaining.

The junior Southern Illinois transfer was back.

Davis scored 18 points and had five rebounds in his first game back from a two-game suspension; and AJ Dybantsa added 16 points, eight rebounds and two assists as the ninth-ranked Cougars outscored Miami 43-29 in the second half en route to a 72-62 win Thursday afternoon in the semifinals of the ESPN Events Invitational in Kissimmee, Florida.

Wright added 17 points and four assists for BYU (5-1), which got 6 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high seven blocks from Keba Keita while holding the Hurricanes to just 11-of-33 shooting in the second half.

"I feel like he did great," Wright told BYU Radio of Davis' return to the lineup. "He definitely found his way early; none of us could get it going. But he was definitely a big spark for us the whole game."

"Moo" wasn't alone, though.

Keita had the most blocks by a BYU men's basketball player in a single game since Shawn Bradley had 10 against Virginia on March 14, 1991. It's the third time since the senior from Bamako, Mali, transferred from Utah two years ago that Keita has had at least four blocks in a game.

His second five-block performance is tied for the fifth-most in a career in BYU history.

Malik Reneau led Miami (5-2) with 14 points and nine rebounds, and Shelton Henderson added 13 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Davis sat out the previous two games against No. 3 UConn and Wisconsin for a violation of team rules. The suspension followed a car crash Nov. 13 in which Davis was arrested under suspicion of driving under the influence by Provo police.

The St. Louis native pleaded not guilty Nov. 19 to a class B misdemeanor of driving under the influence, first offense in 10 years, which included a recommended fine of $1,390. A pre-trial conference was also scheduled for Jan. 12, 2026 in Utah's Fourth District Court.

The 6-foot-6 junior from St. Louis averaged 9.0 points 27 minutes per game over the first two games of the 2025-26 season, both wins over Villanova (in Las Vegas) and Holy Cross in Provo.

But Davis, who also sat out the Cougars' 85-68 home win over Delaware with Achilles' soreness before missing the 86-84 loss to No. 3 UConn and 98-70 win over Wisconsin in Salt Lake City, had his best game in a BYU uniform Thursday.

The junior connected on 7-of-10 field goals including 4-of-7 from deep for BYU, which shot 54.5% from the field after trailing by 4 at the half.

"I thought he was great. A lot of poise out of him the last couple of weeks," BYU coach Kevin Young said of Davis. "I've had some great heart-to-heart conversations with him and I'm proud of the way he showed up tonight, was there for his team, and made some huge plays."

Miami held Dybantsa scoreless for the first 11 minutes of the game, but the five-star freshman scored back-to-back buckets including a dunk in transition to pull the Cougars within 22-21 with 7:30 left in the half.

Davis led BYU with 7 points and four rebounds in the first half. But Reneau had 8 points and six rebounds, and Tre Donaldson added 8 points, four rebounds and two steals as the Hurricanes shot 42.4% from the fielder route to a 33-29 halftime lead.

The Hurricanes had nine offensive rebounds for 11 second-chance points in the first half.

BYU's "big three" of Dybantsa, Wright and Richie Saunders combined for just 13 points, four rebounds and four assists in the first half for the Cougars, and Dybantsa — who was often the focus of 2-3 defenders — shot just 2-of-9 from the field before the break.

But the former five-star prospect from Brockton, Massachusetts, connected on one just 31 seconds into the second half to spark a 20-7 run.

The Cougars held Miami without a field goal for more than five minutes in the second half, leading by as much as 13 points thanks in no small measure to Keita's sixth game in two seasons at BYU with at least three blocks.

"We started off pretty slow," Wright said, "and I feel like we picked it up in the second half."

BYU will face Dayton, which held off Georgetown 84-79 in Thursday's other semifinal, in the Magic Bracket final Friday (7:30 p.m. MT, ESPN).

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