Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Sorry to any Rockies fans out there, but I’m laughing at the fact they’ll pick 10th in next year’s MLB draft despite losing 119 games.
In today’s SI:AM:
🤯 BYU’s thrilling comeback
🏆 Wide-open Super Bowl race
🏈 Big 12 commish slams ND
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Drama at the Garden
BYU’s AJ Dybantsa just had the first signature moment of his college basketball career.
Dybantsa, a freshman from Brockton, Mass., who is in the running to be the top pick in next year’s NBA draft, took over in Tuesday’s game against Clemson at Madison Square Garden and spearheaded a miraculous BYU comeback that was capped by Robert Wright III’s game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer.
The game got off to a terrible start for BYU. After Wright hit a three with 6:59 left in the first half to tie the game at 22, the Cougars didn’t score another point for eight-and-a-half minutes, during which the Tigers’ lead ballooned to 22 points. But that’s when Dybantsa showed why he was the top recruit in his class.
Dybantsa scored or assisted on 34 of BYU’s 45 points in the second half. He scored 22 of his 28 points after halftime, with seven second-half rebounds and five assists. He drew five fouls and did not commit any. He scored in a variety of ways, too—driving to the hoop and drawing contact, backing down opponents in the post and using his size to create space.
“That’s a big, strong physical team. I thought our guys responded, just our trench warfare mentality was much better in the second half,” BYU coach Kevin Young said. “One thing about AJ that he does a good job of, he really is a very fast processor. In the second half he made the needed adjustments where he could get to his spots a little bit more, and then the game kind of opened up from that standpoint.”
BYU slowly chipped away at the deficit, finally taking the lead, 55–54, on a Keba Keita lob from Dybantsa with 3:17 left. Clemson hung around, though, and tied the game at 64 on a Dillon Hunter layup with 5.5 seconds left. That set the stage for a dramatic conclusion, only it wasn’t Dybantsa who played hero at the end. With the Clemson defense focused on Dybantsa, Wright dashed from behind the half-court line and hoisted a leaning shot from well behind the arc at the buzzer to win it.
“You got to have trust in your teammates,” Dybantsa said of Wright getting the final shot. “It don’t matter what the play is, don’t matter if I had 50 that game. Whoever is open gets the ball. That’s the kind of trust we have in our team. They decided to double me. He shoots 45% from three. I’ll take that.”
The game marked the end of the Cougars’ early-season stretch of games all over the country. They have played only two true home games this season (on Nov. 8 against Holy Cross and Nov. 11 against Delaware), with two pseudo-home games in Salt Lake City. They’ve also played in Las Vegas, Boston and Kissimmee, Fla., as they’ve tried to stack the schedule with games against big-name non-conference opponents. They’ve got four home games against mid-major opponents before beginning Big 12 play at Kansas State on Jan. 3.
Led by Dybantsa, this is BYU’s best chance to make a deep NCAA tournament run in decades. The Cougars have never advanced farther in the tournament than the Elite Eight (which they reached in 1950, ’51 and ’81). It’s a long season, and conference play will tell us a lot more about what to expect from this team. With Dybantsa capable of dominating games like he did on Tuesday, it would be foolish to put a ceiling on BYU’s hopes.
The best of Sports Illustrated
- In this mad 2025 NFL season, the sufferers and the surprises and the playoff teams once left for dead are the favorites, but only because someone has to be, writes Greg Bishop.
- Albert Breer argues why the Colts were right to take the risk and sign 44-year-old quarterback Philip Rivers. He also has notes from around the league, including the Chiefs’ struggles, the Jaguars’ up-and-coming defensive coordinator and more.
- Gilberto Manzano reports that with so many of the league's top quarterbacks set to miss the playoffs, it's Buffalo’s Josh Allen's time to leapfrog Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes as the NFL's best.
- Bryan Fischer details Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark’s rebuke of Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua and how the upcoming College Football Playoff meeting among conference commissioners might become contentious.
- Pat Forde explains the Fighting Irish have spent the last 48 hours pointing the finger at everyone else and neglecting a key participant in their CFP exclusion—themselves.
The top five…
… things I saw last night:
5. UConn guard Malachi Smith’s nasty Eurostep against Florida. The Huskies won the national championship rematch at MSG, 77–73.
4. Indiana redshirt senior Lamar Wilkerson’s school-record 10 three-pointers. He had 44 points in the Hoosiers’ 113–72 win over Penn State.
3. A beautiful baseball pass by Bam Adebayo.
2. A monster dunk by Karl-Anthony Towns.
1. Connor McDavid’s goal with one second left in regulation to force overtime against the Sabres. (Buffalo went on to win.)
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Potential No. 1 Pick AJ Dybantsa Leads BYU to Miracle Comeback at MSG.