{"id":330952,"date":"2025-10-25T06:35:48","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T06:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/330952\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T06:35:48","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T06:35:48","slug":"cougars-defeat-no-25-unc-in-preseason-finale-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/330952\/","title":{"rendered":"Cougars defeat No. 25 UNC in preseason finale \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

BYU basketball closed out the preseason with a win.<\/p>\n

The No. 8 Cougars hung on late to defeat No. 25 North Carolina 78-76 Friday night at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City to finish 1-1 in their pair of exhibition contests.<\/p>\n

3 takeaways<\/p>\n

Dybantsa and Keita shined. <\/b>Just like last week at Nebraska, AJ Dybantsa was excellent on Friday for BYU.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Special Collector’s Issue: “1984: The Year BYU was Second to None”<\/p>\n

Get an inclusive look inside BYU Football’s 1984 National Championship season.<\/p>\n

The freshman phenom scored a team-high 18 points on 6 of 13 shooting, adding eight rebounds, three blocks and three steals as well.<\/p>\n

Keba Keita was a beast down low, posting a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds, with eight of his boards coming on the offensive glass.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Keita went a perfect 4 for 4 from the free throw line \u2014 no small feat for the big man \u2014 and swiped two steals while also swatting away UNC\u2019s would-be tying shot in the final seconds to seal the victory for BYU.<\/p>\n

\"\"BYU guard Robert Wright III (1) drives the ball toward the basket while guarded by North Carolina guard Seth Trimble (7) during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) pulls up for a jump-shot while guarded by North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson (8) during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) drives the ball toward the basket while guarded by North Carolina forward Jarin Stevenson (15) during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) warms up before an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game against the North Carolina Tar Heels held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU students hold up the \u201cY\u201d as forward AJ Dybantsa (3) takes foul shots during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game against the North Carolina Tar Heels held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) lays the ball up past North Carolina forward Jonathan Powell (11) during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"North Carolina head coach Hubert Davis calls out to his players during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game against BYU held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) drives the ball on North Carolina guard Seth Trimble (7) during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU guard Richie Saunders (15) goes up for a shot against North Carolina forward Jonathan Powell (11) during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU guard Kennard Davis Jr. (30) drives the ball toward the basket while guarded by North Carolina forward Jonathan Powell (11) during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU forward Mihailo Boskovic (5) pulls up for a jump-shot against North Carolina during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) goes up for a shot against North Carolina defenders during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"Cosmo the Cougar flips over fans during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game between BYU and North Carolina held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU guard Kennard Davis Jr. (30) celebrates after a play with center Keba Keita (13) during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game against North Carolina held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU forward Tyler Mrus (2) pulls up for a jump-shot against North Carolina during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU forward Mihailo Boskovic (5) and forward AJ Dybantsa (3) celebrate after a play during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game against North Carolina held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU guard Kennard Davis Jr. (30) holds his follow-through on his made three-pointer during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game against North Carolina held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) high-fives fans as he exits the floor after the Cougars defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU center Keba Keita (13) dunks the ball while guarded by North Carolina forward Jarin Stevenson (15) during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) dunks the ball on a fast break against North Carolina during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) dunks the ball while guarded by North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson (8) during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU guard Richie Saunders (15) shoots the ball while guarded by North Carolina forward Jarin Stevenson (15) during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU center Keba Keita (13) lays the ball up past North Carolina center Henri Veesaar (13) during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) drives the ball toward the basket while guarded by North Carolina guard Seth Trimble (7) during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU center Keba Keita (13) dunks the ball against North Carolina during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU head coach Kevin Young calls out to his players during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game against North Carolina held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU forward Khadim Mboup (7) passes the ball around North Carolina forward Zayden High (1) during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"North Carolina center Henri Veesaar (13) dunks the ball on BYU center Keba Keita (13) during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU guard Robert Wright III (1) drives the ball on North Carolina guard Derek Dixon (3) during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) dunks the ball on North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson (8) during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News \"\"BYU forward Khadim Mboup (7) dunks the ball against North Carolina during an NCAA men\u2019s basketball exhibition game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News <\/p>\n

The Cougars struggled from behind the arc. <\/b>BYU made just 5 of 25 3-pointers on the night, with Richie Saunders the only player to sink multiple such shots \u2014 though he finished just 2 of 9.<\/p>\n

Luckily for the Cougars, UNC shot 21.1% from deep, as BYU\u2019s perimeter defense appeared much better than last week\u2019s showing at Nebraska.<\/p>\n

Despite the lack of 3-point success, it was far from an offensive dud for the Cougars. BYU scored 44 points in the paint, hit 19 free throws and grabbed 18 offensive rebounds.<\/p>\n

Shooting woes in October are nothing to lose sleep over; the Cougars should be fine and Saunders will eventually shake his recent funk. But BYU only turning the ball over 12 times in a competitive outing against a ranked opponent at this point in the season is definitely laudable.<\/p>\n

Kevin Young treated this like a regular season game. <\/b>Unlike last week\u2019s game wherein the Cougars kept their end of bench players in for a potential game-winner, Young coached Friday as if the result actually counted.<\/p>\n

BYU\u2019s starters were Rob Wright III, Kennard Davis, Dybantsa, Saunders and Keita, with Khadim Mboup coming off the bench first.<\/p>\n

Mihailo Boskovic played the most of any reserve with 22 minutes on the floor, followed by Mboup with 13 minutes, Aleksej Kostic with 10 and eight from Tyler Mrus.<\/p>\n

The Cougars only had 10 bench points, but such an output was to be expected with the starters playing an average of 29 minutes each. <\/p>\n

Wright had 12 points and five assists, Saunders scored 14 with three steals, and Boskovic and Mboup combined for 10 points and 10 rebounds.<\/p>\n

Just like last week, BYU held Dawson Baker, Nate Pickens and Brody Kozlowski out of the contest.<\/p>\n

The next time the Cougars will take the floor, it will be against Villanova in Las Vegas for the regular season opener.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BYU basketball closed out the preseason with a win. The No. 8 Cougars hung on late to defeat…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":330953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1680,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-330952","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-news-feed-local","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115433435614627185","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}