By Pete Janny (@pete_janny)
NEW YORK — It’s safe to assume Tuesday night’s opener in the Jimmy V Classic is cemented in the minds of all who watched BYU point guard Robert Wright III complete an improbable task: Hitting a deep three with just over a second remaining to erase a 22-point deficit and beat Clemson.
Nevertheless, it feels just as hard to forget the performance that Wright’s teammate and projected No. 1 NBA Draft pick AJ Dybantsa put on under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden, tallying 28 points, nine rebounds, six assists in the Cougars’ 67-64 win.
Moreover, the 6-foot-9 freak of nature registered 22 points, seven rebounds, and five assists in the second half action alone, outpacing Clemson as a team in both point and assist totals during that stretch.
The stretch run included Dybantsa throwing down a vicious tomahawk dunk that extended the BYU lead to six with just over a minute remaining, as well as hooking up with big man Keba Keita on a pair of alley-oop jams that electrified the MSG crowd. All told, Dybantsa scored or assisted on 34 of BYU’s 45 second-half points, per ESPN Research.
The freshman’s virtuoso performance will be studied in the months leading up to June’s NBA Draft, which remains in an ongoing tussle for positioning between Dybantsa, Duke’s Cameron Boozer, and Kansas’ Darryn Peterson. As good as the latter two freshmen have been, Dybantsa may have earned himself additional brownie points with NBA front offices after putting together his best outing to date versus Clemson. Dybantsa, a three-level scorer, was also a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line in the second half.
What makes the whole bit even more interesting is how Dybantsa was able to rally his team coming out of a brutal first half. BYU trailed the Tigers, 43-22, at the intermission after going scoreless over the last six-plus minutes of the opening stanza. The Cougars had their share of looks, but nothing was falling. Clemson simply looked like the more well-rounded and disciplined team before things came crashing down to earth in the second half for Brad Brownell’s squad.
“Just be patient,” Dybantsa said when asked about what allowed him to enter a flow state. “Don't get too down on yourself if you're missing shots in the first half. You've still got another 20 minutes to go. I'm super confident in my ability and I trust all the work I put in.”
“I think in the first half, he was doing a lot of stuff towards the baseline,” said BYU head coach Kevin Young. “He was falling away. I think he mentioned that. He does a great job when he gets middle. We have a little saying, him and I, just pick a spot. That was something I learned in the NBA with coaches and really good players.”
In his MSG debut, Dybantsa reminded us once again why stardom in college basketball is at an all-time high. Coming into the ranks a year after Cooper Flagg captivated minds as Duke and earned the No. 1 pick, Dybantsa certainly has a target on his back given his status as the No. 1 recruit in the country out of Utah Prep. And on a night where No. 5 UConn and No. 18 Florida were on the main card at MSG, Dybantsa’s comfort in choosing a non-blueblood in BYU only adds more mystique to his phenom status.
“It was a surreal feeling to be able to play (at MSG),” Dybantsa said.
No place in the world is better than New York City around the holidays, a fitting parallel for Tuesday night’s MSG festivities, which did its part living up to the hype. Whichever lottery-bound NBA franchise can get their hands on Dybantsa this June will feel even more jolly.
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