Freshmen Koa Peat And AJ Dybantsa Shine In College Debuts In Las Vegas

As Koa Peat stood on the T-Mobile Arena court in Las Vegas Monday night, the Arizona freshman forward nearly cried. Peat was emotional while conducting an interview with the TNT Sports studio crew following his sensational college debut in the No. 13 Wildcats’ 93-87 victory over No. 3 Florida, the reigning national champions.

Peat had 30 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. Considering the opponent and big-time stage, it was one of the best first games a freshman has had in years. And Peat, who grew up in Arizona, understood the significance of the performance.

“I’m just thankful, man – a lot of long nights praying,” Peat said. “I prayed this whole week, and I’m honestly about to be in tears. It’s a blessing to play for my home state. To do it with my teammates, we’ve been working hard all summer. To come out and beat the defending national champs, man, I’m just grateful and thankful.”

In the second game of the doubleheader, another elite freshman forward, BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, also shined. Dybantsa had a team-high 21 points, including 13 in the second half, although he made just 2 of 7 free throws as the No. 8 Cougars eked out a 71-66 victory over unranked Villanova.

Peat and Dybantsa are not only rivals in the Big 12 Conference, but they are also friends who have known each other for a few years and played in international tournaments together.

This past summer, Dybantsa and Peat were teammates on the U.S. team that won the FIBA U19 Men’s World Cup in Switzerland. Dybantsa was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player after averaging 14.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.1 steals and leading the U.S. to a perfect 7-0 record, while Peat added 12.6 points and a team-high 6.9 rebounds per game.

During the summer of 2024, Dybantsa and Peat were also both part of the U.S. team that won the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup in Turkey. Peat averaged 17.9 points and 5.6 points per game, including 26 points in the championship game against Italy, the most points a U.S. player has ever scored in a U17 final. Dybantsa averaged 14.1 points, 4.1 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game in the tournament.

Peat is the only U.S. player to win three men’s FIBA Youth World Cups, having also been a major contributor on the team that won the 2022 FIBA U17 title. At the time, Peat was just 15 years old, but he was named to the five-man All-Tournament team alongside teammate Cooper Flagg, who was the national player of the year last season at Duke and the No. 1 pick in June’s NBA draft.

Still, Peat entered this season overlooked on the national stage, as other freshmen such as Dybantsa, Kansas guard Darryn Peterson and Duke forward Cameron Boozer received preseason All-American honors. Those three freshmen are all considered in the mix for the No. 1 pick in next year’s NBA draft and were the top three players in the high school class of 2025, per the 247Sports Composite.

Peat, meanwhile, was No. 9 in the 247 rankings, although that spot is more a reflection of how talented his high school class is rather than a knock against Peat. In fact, The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie’s latest mock draft for 2026 published on Tuesday has Peat slotted as the No. 8 pick. Vecenie has six freshmen projected to be the first six selections in the draft: Peterson, Dybantsa, Boozer, Tennessee forward Nate Ament, Louisville guard Mikel Brown Jr. and Houston center Chris Cenac Jr. Three other freshmen are projected as lottery picks: Baylor guard Tounde Yessoufou (No. 9), Connecticut guard Braylon Mullins (No. 11) and Arizona guard Brayden Burries (No. 13).

On Monday, several of those players made their college debuts. Peterson had 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting in 22 minutes, Ament had a team-high 18 points and 9 rebounds, Brown had 11 points and 6 assists in just 18 minutes, Cenac had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Burries had 3 points and made only 1 of 6 shots in 17 minutes.

Still, Peat was the freshman who had the most dazzling performance Monday. He was dominant against a Florida team with one of the best frontcourts in the nation in 6-foot-11 forward Alex Condon, a preseason Associated Press All-American; 6-foot-9 forward Thomas Haugh, who averaged 9.8 points and 6.1 rebounds last season; 6-foot-10 center Rueben Chinyelu, a returning starter who averaged 6 points and 6.6 rebounds last season; and Micah Handlogten, a 7-foot-1 center who had 11 points and 12 rebounds Monday.

Peat made 11 of 18 shots, clinched the game with a defensive rebound and two free throws with 14.2 seconds remaining and became the first Big 12 player to have 30 points and 5 rebounds in his debut, per ESPN. It is the start of what Peat hopes will be a memorable freshman season. Arizona’s non-conference schedules includes games against No. 4 UConn, No. 12 UCLA, No. 15 Alabama and No. 20 Auburn. And in the Big 12, Peat will be facing top programs and fellow classmates such as Dybantsa, Peterson and Cenac. It’s still too early to determine which freshman will emerge as the nation’s best, but the sport should benefit with such a deep roster of first-year players and likely NBA lottery picks contributing on ranked teams.