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BYU men’s basketball assistant coach Chris Burgess, center, addresses the team during summer workouts at the Marriott Center Annex on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025.<\/p>\n
Nate Edwards, BYU Photo<\/p>\n
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BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa plays defense during summer workouts at the Marriott Center Annex on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025.<\/p>\n
Nate Edwards, BYU Photo<\/p>\n
\u276e<\/a> \t\t\t During BYU\u2019s three-game run in the 2024 NCAA Men\u2019s Basketball Tournament, the Cougars allowed 91 points per game and a total of 52 3-pointers to VCU, Wisconsin and Alabama, including an NCAA Tournament record 25 triples to the Crimson Tide in the Sweet 16.<\/p>\n Clearly, if BYU wants to advance beyond the third round for the first time since 1981, its defense has to improve.<\/p>\n At the end of summer workouts last week, Cougar coach Kevin Young talked to his players about the focus of their efforts. Three of them were on the defensive side: One-on-one defense, defensive transition and defensive mental toughness.<\/p>\n BYU spent a lot of time scrimmaging this summer as well, working on getting to the rim, playing off two feet and finding open teammates.<\/p>\n But it was defense that got the bulk of the attention.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s just be honest,\u201d BYU assistant coach Chris Burgess said. \u201cWe relied a lot on offense last year. It was really good. Even in our loss to Alabama, we still scored almost 90 points. We felt like we had to build a guard if we\u2019re going to take the next step. So this whole summer, the emphasis has been about the defensive end. We want to pressure the ball more. We want to be more aggressive.<\/p>\n \u201cLast year on defense we did what we called a tight show. We just wanted to have our toes to the three, really pack the lane and just keep guys in front. Now we want to be a little bit more hands on and get more pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n In building a roster for the 2025-26 season, the Cougars wanted to bring in players who could fill important defensive roles.<\/p>\n \u201cWe feel like we we got guys in here that can do that, right?\u201d Burgess said. \u201cWe think AJ (Dybantsa) is a dynamic defender. We think Rob (Wright) has the ability to push the ball. Kennard Davis might be one of our best defenders. Nate Pickens is a really, really good defender. Dominique (Diomonde) is long and athletic. Khadim Mboup is long and athletic. He\u2019s switchable one through five, one through four. Everyone talks about the offense and the but we think we\u2019re going to be able to guard teams this year in ways that we just didn\u2019t do last year.\u201d<\/p>\n The new roster isn\u2019t deficient on the offensive end by any means.<\/p>\n \u201cWith last year\u2019s team, as good as they were, we felt like we didn\u2019t have the ability to get into the paint,\u201d Burgess said. \u201cWe felt like we had upgrade some of our ability to just be dynamic with the ball, to get to our spots and make plays. We feel like we really upgraded that in terms of that talent.<\/p>\n \u201cWe also felt like we had to put shooting around the court. We knew Richie (Saunders) was going to be a big-time shooter. We knew Dawson Baker was going to be a big time shooter. (Mahailo) Boscovich was going to be in his second year and hopefully he\u2019ll take another step in his shooting ability. So we upgraded with Rob, and with AJ and Kennard.\u201d<\/p>\n The NCAA allows men\u2019s college basketball teams a maximum of eight hours per week during summer workouts, with weight training, conditioning and skill instruction for up to eight weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have some competitive guys in the gym,\u201d Burgess said. \u201cWe have guys that came in wanting to get better. They wanted to compete, so we organized a lot of our practice around trying to play live ball. The competitiveness of this group, they know the expectations, right? They know they came up short in the Sweet 16, and there\u2019s still a sour taste with the returners.<\/p>\n \u201cWith what we saw this summer, it was just the competitive fire. I think we just kept scratching our heads about who\u2019s going to eventually rise and continue to rise. They\u2019ve been competing at a high level and it\u2019s been awesome. We\u2019ve probably done fewer drills because we wanted to get them to play, because it\u2019s so fun to see that. It\u2019s how you build chemistry and build a team by letting them play and figuring things out.\u201d<\/p>\n
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