No. 14 Kansas Fends Off No. 13 BYU To Win 1,000th Game At Allen Fieldhouse
In the 1,000th game played in the safe confines of Allen Fieldhouse, the 14th-ranked Kansas Jayhawks pulled out a tough win over the 13th-ranked BYU Cougars in a high-scoring 90-82 finish to improve to 16-5 on the season.
The Battle Of the Potential 2026 NBA No. 1 Overall Draft Picks
The matchup that had every NBA scout glued to their TV this weekend, the duel between superstar freshmen in Kansas’s Darryn Peterson and BYU’s AJ Dybantsa ended up being a bit anti-climactic. Despite a highlight reel first half from Peterson, which included an emphatic poster dunk over two BYU players that sent the Jayhawks crowd into a frenzy, there wasn’t much to write about for either player tonight.
Dybantsa finished with 17 points in a quiet outing overall, while Peterson dropped 18 points before mysteriously exiting the game with 16:46 left in the second half.
Peterson had missed the previous game for the Jayhawks due to an ankle sprain that he suffered last weekend. It’s been an injury-plagued season for the star freshman, as Peterson has missed over 10 games with various injuries. Peterson has been a scoring machine all season for the Jayhawks when healthy. He is averaging over 21 points per game, which is good for 11th in all of college basketball.
Even with Peterson’s mysterious absence in the second half, the Jayhawks got a wealth of production out of their entire starting five tonight. Kansas big man Bryson Tiller finished with 21 points and 7 rebounds, while other players, such as Melvin Council Jr., finished with 15 points to help offset Peterson’s absence. The Jayhawks’ offense was clicking on all cylinders as they shot 57% from the field, as well as 50% from the three-point line, with all five starters finishing in double figures.
Richie Saunders Stars In the Loss for BYU
It was a career night for BYU senior Guard Richie Saunders, who put on a show in the second half to help bring the Cougars to within 4 points in the final 3 minutes. Saunders dropped 33 points and 10 rebounds. He outscored the entire BYU team in the second half. The Cougars saw a bounce-back game from Robert Wright III, who scored 18 points and dished out 6 assists in the loss. The Cougars were down by as much as 20 points heading into halftime, and would end up outscoring Kansas 49-37 as their furious comeback fell just short.
This game was eerily similar to the Cougars’ game against No. 1 Arizona on Tuesday, as BYU has made a habit of being a team that doesn’t go away easily. BYU came close to knocking off the Wildcats in that Tuesday game, as they came back down 11 with a minute left with a chance to win in the final 10 seconds of the game. While both games ended in defeat, the Cougars’ heroics show an outstanding amount of resilience that could serve them well come March.
Current Big 12 Standings and Upcoming Games For Both Teams
Following their win tonight, the Jayhawks remain in a prime position for the Big 12 regular season crown. They are now tied with No. 8 Iowa State and No. 11 Texas Tech for 3rd place in the most loaded conference in college basketball. Of course, the Jayhawks will have to hope for the two teams ahead of them, No. 10 Houston and the previously mentioned Arizona Wildcats, to fall apart.
For the Cougars, this loss takes a bit of wind out of their sails in the Big 12 title race, as they now stand at 5-3 at the midway point of the conference season. Thankfully for BYU, they will have a chance to regroup before they go on the road to face off against Oklahoma State next Wednesday. Meanwhile, for the Kansas Jayhawks, it will be a quick turnaround for them as they’ll travel to Lubbock for a major matchup with No. 11 Texas Tech on Monday.
