On Wednesday, January 7, 2026, the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah, the No. 9 BYU Cougars overpowered the Arizona State Sun Devils to a 10476 Big 12 win. The loss highlighted several key issues that contributed to Arizona State’s struggles in the game.
Elite Scoring BYU Big Three.
The phenomenal offensive performance of BYU's best scorers was one of the main factors that led to Arizona State's lag in the early years, after which it could not restore its position. The BYU trio of Richie Saunders, AJ Dybantsa, and Robert Wright III scored 81 out of the 104 points of the team, and they had better scores than the entire Sun Devils team.
Saunders had a career-high of 31 points, Wright was at 27, and Dybantsa had 23 points, 7 rebounds, and five assists. Another notable fact is that the Cougars were also able to shoot from long distance, hitting 14 out of 31 three-point shots, which extended the ASU defense and allowed the Cougars to score in various places throughout the night.
BYU caught an early lead, with fast scoring bursts to take the initiative. A 13–0 run early in the game put BYU ahead 16–6 while Arizona State missed nine straight shots during that stretch. The Sun Devils could not establish any momentum on offense, but BYU kept the pace relentlessly, and by far, in almost no time, ASU was in the mode of catching up.
Defensive Breakdown
The BYU attack was well-balanced, and Arizona State could not handle this. The Sun Devils could not slow down the Cougars during the transition stage and break their rhythm during perimeter shooting, which enabled the COUGARS to sustain the scoring pressure throughout the game. BYU was also ahead of ASU in such critical transition points, with the fast-break points beating the Sun Devils by 31-16, which helped keep them in an even more lead.
Arizona State could not keep up with the consistency of the BYU offense, as, despite sound performances by individuals - 24 points by Anthony Johnson and 22 points and nine rebounds by Massamba Diop - Arizona State could not compete with Utah State on a one-on-one basis. The majority of the ASU points were contributed when the game was almost over, and the Sun Devils could not maintain long offensive streaks that could have narrowed the gap.