MANHATTAN, Kan. — A.J. Dybantsa had 24 points to offset seven turnovers in his Big 12 Conference debut, Robert Wright III added 18 points and No. 10 BYU held off Kansas State 83-73 on Saturday to extend the Cougars' longest winning streak since 2010.
Richie Saunders had 13 points and Keba Keita pulled down 16 rebounds for the Cougars (13-1, 1-0), whose 10th win since a two-point loss to fourth-ranked UConn in late November is their best unbeaten stretch since Jimmer Fredette's senior season.
P.J. Haggerty led the Wildcats (9-5, 0-1) with 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Abdi Bashir Jr. added 16 points, David Castillo scored 13 and Khamari McGriff finished with 12 points and eight boards.
Not only was the game a rare matchup of BYU and Kansas State — just the 11th time the schools met — it was a showdown between Dybantsa, the nation's second-leading scorer at 23.1 points per game, and Haggerty, who came in third at 22.9 per game.
The two stars, one a freshman and the other a fourth-year junior, lived up to the billing.
Dybantsa scored 14 of his points in the first half, mostly on the kind of midrange jumpers that could soon make him a fortune in the NBA. Haggerty answered with 14 of his own, most of those coming on physical drives to the basket.
The Cougars had the better supporting cast, though, and built a 45-35 lead by halftime.
Kansas State tried to mount a comeback in the second half, and Bashir had an open 3-point look to cut the lead to three with about 14 minutes to go. But after his shot rimmed out, Wright drilled a 3 at the other end for BYU — a six-point swing in a matter of seconds.
The Cougars never allowed the Wildcats to make another run over the final 10 minutes.
Up next
BYU plays Arizona State on Wednesday night.
Kansas State visits No. 1 Arizona the same night.
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