Did BYU men's basketball find recipe for success in post-Saunders world?

PROVO — BYU men's basketball needed a win in a serious way Saturday, when then-No. 6 Iowa State came to the Marriott Center eight days removed from Richie Saunders' season-ending ACL injury.

The 23rd-ranked Cougars needed a win for morale, but also to halt questions against top competition with only their second win over an Associated Press-ranked opponent of the year.

And for Mihailo Boskovic, the 79-69 victory was a bit personal.

Boskovic scored a career-high 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers and five rebounds in the 10-point win that came three nights after shooting 0-for-3 from the field in a 75-68 loss to Arizona.

"Yeah, it kind of helped," Boskovic admitted. "The coaching staff was telling us to stick to it, and toward the end, it paid off. It felt good."

His efforts didn't go unnoticed, even as BYU's final win-loss record likely rides on the shoulders of AJ Dybantsa. The top-tier NBA draft prospect nearly had his second triple-double of the season, accumulating 29 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in the win.

It was enough for Dybantsa to earn a sweep of the conference's weekly awards for the second time, notching both Big 12 player of the week and newcomer week after averaging 32.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists in a pair of games against the Cyclones and the loss at No. 4 Arizona.

Make no mistake, BYU — which moved up four spots to No. 19 in the AP poll Monday — will go as far as Dybantsa can take them. The 6-foot-9 first-year star showed the type of talent that NBA scouts covet, and that will likely have him high on watch lists for player of the year in the Big 12 and nationally.

But on a night when Robert Wright III had just 6 points and four assists on 2-of-8 shooting, the Cougars' support cast more than made up for it.

In addition to Boskovic, Keba Keita scored 9 points with six rebounds, three steals and a block. Kennard Davis Jr. got going in the second half in scoring 17 points, and Khadim Mboup's 5 points may be overlooked on offense — but the redshirt freshman's 10 rebounds were not.

There's plenty to be said about "opportunity and confidence," BYU coach Kevin Young said of the supporting cast's breakout. But the "non-Big 3" — or should we call it, Big 2 in Dybantsa and Wright? — have had opportunities before.

On Saturday night, they made the most of them.

"They believe," Young added. "That's so powerful when a group believes in themself. I try to pour that belief into them the best that I can.

"When you have toughness, rebounding and taking care of the ball, shotmaking is going to be what makes or breaks us. And then you add AJ and Rob, and you have the chance to beat anybody in this country. This team is really good. I think they're a Final Four-caliber team. I'm excited to see our guys' confidence level and how that builds on each other."

In a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately Big 12 with a nation-high five ranked teams, there's always a new challenge. For BYU, that comes Tuesday night against UCF — a top-50 team in KenPom that ranks 35th in adjusted offense and outside the top-100 in adjusted defensive efficiency.

The Knights (19-7, 8-6 Big 12) are coming off a confidence booster of their own, a cagey 73-71 win at Utah that featured 16 lead changes and 24 points from fifth-year Milwaukee transfer Themus Fulks.

UCF bolstered its NCAA Tournament at-large resume with a pair of wins against TCU and the Runnin' Utes, and could add plenty more to a team receiving votes in the AP Top 25 with a late-night road win in Provo.

"Our league is a bear; everybody understands it. Any team can beat anybody on a given night, and they've proven that they can beat any team in our league," Young said of the Knights. "They're well-coached, and have guys who are really talented.

"This is a huge game for them, as it is for us," he added. "It's a massive game for us. Our guys will be ready to go for those reasons."

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