AJ Dybantsa shines, however his Boston homecoming spoiled by UConn
Boston Celtics
“That is as excessive a degree of shot-making as you are going to see in faculty basketball.”
Saturday might need been an anticipated return to the Commonwealth for Brockton native AJ Dybantsa.
However the BYU star and projected top-three decide within the 2026 NBA Draft didn’t precisely obtain the warmest welcome on the parquet ground at TD Backyard.
The Massachusetts product might need had loads of household and mates at TD Backyard for the 18-year-old ahead’s first sport again on Causeway Avenue since his days taking part in for St. Sebastian’s.
However in a sport towards the No. 3-ranked UConn Huskies, Dybantsa and the No. 7 BYU Cougars had been getting into into enemy territory — with a majority of the Backyard crowd donning Huskies gear.
“Simply coming in as a freshman — it’s like a brand new atmosphere,” Dybantsa stated. “I imply, I’ve performed in NBA arenas earlier than, however I haven’t performed in a single feeling like this. And clearly they introduced plenty of followers and every part like that. So I simply needed to keep calm, keep poised.”
Be it a hostile crowd, preliminary jitters in his return to Massachusetts, or a frightening matchup towards an imposing UConn roster, Dybantsa labored out of the gate in Saturday’s heavyweight bout within the Corridor of Fame sequence.
However not for lengthy.
After posting 4 factors within the first half, Dybantsa helped flip a possible blowout for the Cougars right into a nailbiter — ending with 21 factors over the ultimate 20 minutes of play en path to an eventual 86-84 Huskies win.
“That’s as excessive a degree of shot-making as you’re going to see in faculty basketball,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley stated of Dybantsa, who closed the sport with a game-high 25 factors, six rebounds, and two steals. “I imply, that man with the threes — he hasn’t been making threes no less than to start out the yr, he’s been a rim man. However he had the entire bag going tonight.”
Regardless of Dybantsa’s heroics down the stretch, it wasn’t sufficient to topple a UConn squad that constructed an early lead and didn’t relinquish it — regardless of a number of makes an attempt from the Cougars to claw again.
For all the speak of Dybantsa’s return to Massachusetts, it was additionally a welcome homecoming for Huskies redshirt senior Alex Karaban — with the Southborough native standing as one in every of three UConn gamers to put up 21 factors to associate with three rebounds, two steals, and a block.
“I liked it,” Karaban stated of taking part in at TD Backyard. “I imply, I undoubtedly had this sport circled. … It was particular. A few of my favourite video games of my UConn profession had been the Candy 16 and Elite Eight video games after we got here right here two years in the past. So simply being blessed to have the chance to come back again right here, play with one other UConn squad was superior. I liked each second of it.”
“I imply, AJ deserves it,” Karaban added of the hype round Dybantsa. “He’s one hell of a participant, simply what he’s completed for Boston. … He deserved the homecoming too.”
That reward wasn’t essentially shared by a boisterous UConn crowd, particularly in the course of the opening 20 minutes of motion.
As his offensive sport labored within the first half, Dybantsa was topic to jeers of “overrated!” as his pictures continued to clang off the rim.
All it took was a few profitable jumpers early within the second half to assist the explosive ahead begin settling right into a rhythm. As soon as Dybantsa’s pictures from each midrange and past the arc began to fall, what was as soon as a 20-point lead for the Huskies began to empty as Dybantsa’s confidence grew.
Although he didn’t shred UConn in transition, Dybantsa used his robust body to drive to the rim in crunch time — drawing fouls and ending by means of contact.
With Celtics Jaylen Brown and Derrick White in attendance, Dybantsa and the Cougars lower the lead all the way in which down to 2 factors with underneath 30 seconds to go.
However when handed an opportunity to take the lead, BYU’s Robert Wright III misplaced the deal with on the ball — with UConn’s Silas Demary Jr. recovering the turnover to snuff out any hope of a Cougars comeback.
Regardless of the setback for Dybantsa and BYU, Hurley doled out loads of reward for the longer term NBA star — whose inventory ought to proceed to soar as this season continues.
“Simply the expansion and his method,” Hurley stated of what has stood out about Dybantsa. “Typically you watch these children, they arrive into faculty, these excessive draft picks, and it’s been over the course of years and years and years. You may see on movie — the entitlement, the spoiled entitlement, the not guarding, the not being concerning the workforce. … I’m watching [his] evolution from sport to sport to tonight.
“I imply, this man’s on the market guarding, he’s on the backboard, he’s speaking together with his teammates, and he’s taking part in with a degree of desperation to win the sport.
“For a man that’s going to be possibly the primary decide — it’s a little bit refreshing to see this man and the psychological toughness. I imply, his first half was a multitude, and for him to have the ability to put that behind him again house and placing that second-half efficiency on was pretty much as good as you’ll see from a freshman.”
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