AJ Dybantsa has played on some big stages already, but Saturday will mark his most personal spotlight yet.
The BYU freshman phenom returns home to Massachusetts as the seventh-ranked Cougars face No. 3 UConn at TD Garden, a Saturday matchup of national interest that showcases one of college basketball’s brightest rising stars.
Dybantsa, a Brockton, Mass. Native and top prospect in the 2025 recruiting class, enters averaging 18.7 points and 7.2 rebounds for unbeaten BYU (3-0). He’s coming off an 18-point performance in an 85-68 win over Delaware, a game in which the Cougars had to claw back from a 13-point first-half deficit.
“That should be fun, definitely seeing a lot of familiar faces,” Dybantsa told BYUtv Sports Nation. “But it’s a Top-3 team as they should be. UConn’s good, they’ve been good. It’s going to be a test for us but we’ll be ready.”
UConn has indeed been more than good, winning back-to-back national championships in 2023 and 2024. The Huskies are off an 89-62 rout of Columbia, led by Solo Ball’s 23 points, and are beginning a brutal five-game stretch against ranked opponents.
Dybantsa is well aware of the challenge.
“Their physicality. They’re bigger, they’re stronger,” he said via CT Insider. “But I think we’re ready.”
Despite UConn being one of the first programs to offer him, the Huskies never became a serious factor in his recruitment. BYU ultimately landed him with a reported $7 million NIL package and a vision he embraced.
“It wasn’t like a dream school of mine,” he said of UConn. “I didn’t really have a dream school growing up.”
Saturday will also mark UConn’s first trip to TD Garden since its dominant 2024 East Regional run, highlighted by a 30-0 surge against Illinois in the Elite Eight. BYU, meanwhile, returns to the building where Dybantsa starred as a Massachusetts prep standout.
Will facing the hometown powerhouse add motivation for Dybantsa? “No,” he said. “I just want to get a win. That’s the biggest thing.”
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