AJ Dybantsa Shines In Madison Square Garden Debut As BYU Wins On Buzzer Beater

Less than a minute into Tuesday night’s game, BYU star freshman AJ Dybantsa made a 3-pointer from the corner, displaying the smooth stroke that has impressed NBA scouts for a couple of years. It was the first of many times Dybantsa will play at Madison Square Garden, as the 6-foot-9 wing will return to the New York Knicks’ home court on at least a yearly basis when he turns professional, almost certainly in 2026.

No matter how successful he is in the NBA, Dybantsa will remember his MSG debut with fondness. He helped BYU to a 67-64 victory over Clemson that ended on a 3-pointer at the buzzer from guard Robert Wright III. The No. 10 Cougars improved to 8-1 after overcoming a 21-point halftime deficit and trailing by 22 early in the second half, making it the largest second half comeback win in program history.

Dybantsa, who turns 19 next month, finished with a career-high 28 points, including 22 in the second half when he went 7 of 11 on field goals, made all eight free throws, grabbed seven rebounds and had five assists, including two alley-oop passes in the closing minutes to center Keba Keita that brought to the crowd to its feet. Dybantsa also had a highlight dunk of his own, driving to the hoop, slamming it home with three defenders nearby and putting the Cougars ahead by six points with 1:10 remaining.

Still, Clemson came back to tie it at 64-all after Hunter Dillon rebounded Wright’s missed free throw, dribbled down the court and made a bank shot with 5.5 seconds left. BYU then called a timeout with 1.3 seconds left when Wright dribbled past halfcourt.

Mihailo Boskovic, who hadn’t played in the second half, entered the game and inbounded the ball to Wright, who made a 30-footer from the right wing between two Clemson defenders. BYU coach Kevin Young said the Cougars often run that play in practice, while Wright said it was his first buzzer beater at any level.

“Rob made a big-time play,” Young said.

For a while, it wasn’t looking good for BYU. Clemson led 43-22 at halftime and finished the half on a 21-0 run, holding BYU scoreless over the final 6 minutes and 59 seconds. During that stretch, the Cougars missed 10 consecutive shots and committed three turnovers. The 22 points were the fewest BYU scored in a half this year, while its 28.1% shooting was the Cougars’ worst in a half, as well. They made just 2 of 13 on 3’s and were outrebounded by a 24-15 margin.

“I just challenged them, honestly,” Young said of his halftime speech. “I thought that, just to a man, they were playing harder than we were.”

The roles reversed in the second half. BYU scored 45 points and made 53.3% of its shots in the final 20 minutes, while Clemson connected on 25.9% of its field goals and scored just 13 points in the first 19 minutes of the second half before scoring eight in the final minute.

It was the fifth time this season that the Cougars trailed at halftime. They ended up winning all but one of those games.

Young, a longtime NBA assistant who took over at BYU last season, said he simplified the offense in the second half. He put Wright in pick and roll situations and got the ball more to Dybantsa, the No. 1 player in the high school class of 2025 who is projected as the No. 3 pick in next June’s NBA draft, per The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie. While Clemson doubled-teamed Dybantsa in the first half, only one player guarded him for most of the second half.

“In the first half, he was doing a lot of stuff towards the baseline, he’s falling away,” Young said. “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 coaching really good players. Just pick a spot. You’re either going to make it or miss it. And he was able to get to his spots tonight and made them pay.”

Said Dybantsa: “It was just being patient, don’t get too down on yourself if you’re missing shots in the first half…I’m super confident in my ability and I trust all my work that I put in.”

Dybantsa was only the second player in BYU history to be named a preseason first team Associated Press All-American, joining Jimmer Fredette, who received that honor in 2010. And BYU was No. 8 in the AP preseason poll, its highest preseason ranking ever and only the second time in 44 years that they were ranked entering the year.

So far, the Cougars are proving they belong among the top teams in the nation, especially with a high-scoring trio that can take over games. Dybantsa is averaging a team-high 20.3 points per game, while senior Richie Saunders and Wright are close behind with 17.3 and 16.9 points per game, respectively. Wright, a transfer from Baylor, had 17 points on Tuesday, while Saunders, the team’s leading returning scorer, had just 5 points on 2 of 11 shooting and 0 of 7 on 3’s.

Dybantsa has scored at least 15 points in each of BYU’s nine games, the second-longest streak to start a career in Big 12 Conference history, only trailing former Oklahoma star Trae Young, who had a 26-game stretch.

BYU’s only loss occurred on Nov. 15 at TD Garden in Boston when Connecticut got out to a 20-point advantage early in the second half, led by 16 with less than eight minutes remaining and held on for an 86-84 victory. That night, Dybantsa scored a game-high 25 points, including 16 in the final 7 minutes and 26 seconds.

Dybantsa, who grew up in Boston, had attended games at TD Garden before playing in one last month. But before Tuesday, he had never stepped foot in Madison Square Garden.

“This is like the Mecca,” Dybantsa said. “It was a surreal feeling being able to play here.”