PROVO — With arguably the most anticipated men’s basketball season in BYU history, Cougar fans did plenty of waiting during Thursday night’s first look at the 2025-26 squad.

And it wasn’t a complete look, either.

Former top recruit AJ Dybantsa made his unofficial debut in a BYU uniform in the annual blue-white scrimmage, and Richie Saunders was back for his senior year.

But calling Thursday’s palette-whetter a full course of hoops at the Marriott Madness that was part fan fest, part spectacle, and made for social media. Maybe an appetizer, but even that would leave fans wanting more.

Don’t worry; there’s plenty more coming — as soon as next week.

In the end, Dybantsa showed he is a capable playmaker, as well as scorer, as the 6-foot-9 jumbo wing dished out five assists to his teammates in the 12-minute first half before switching colors for the final eight.

Those numbers may have been a bit inflated with Baylor transfer guard Rob Wright III sitting in front of starting quarterback Bear Bachmeier and much of the BYU football team for most of the night.

“Rob is pretty much clear for full-go. But we held him out tonight to keep him where he’s going to be ready to go next week,” said BYU coach Kevin Young, whose team will open a two-game exhibition slate Saturday, Oct. 18 at Nebraska. “Obviously, if you’re missing your starting point guard, things are going to look a little different. We’re going to ask guys to do things we don’t normally ask them to do in real games — and I think you saw a little of that tonight.

“But it’s also good, because it gives guys different opportunities to be in positions where you never know how games go with fouls and in-game injuries. Guys may have to play in roles they aren’t used to.”

BYU coach Kevin Young said Rob Wright III, Nate Pickens, Dawson Baker and Brody Kozlowski were all “a little banged up,” which led to tonight’s unique scrimmage of 12- and 8-minute “halves.”

Nothing long-term expected. pic.twitter.com/NMlKY5FCRS

— Sean Walker (@ActuallyDSW) October 10, 2025

In addition to Wright, Nate Pickens, Dawson Baker and Brody Kozlowski were also “a little banged up” and held out.

Young wasn’t concerned about any long-term ill effects. But he used it as a chance to put other players in different situations, especially as he watched the first half from mid-court with chief of staff Doug Stewart, with co-associate head coaches Tim Fanning and Will Voigt each directing a split-squad roster.

Young returned to coach the Blue team after halftime, when he shuffled a few jerseys and watched over a lineup that included Dybantsa, Saunders, Tyler Mrus, Keba Keita and Kennard Davis Jr.

Speaking of the Southern Illinois transfer whom teammates call by his lifelong nickname “Moo,” Davis was one of those players who impressed, along with Khadim Mboup also going all-out for 5 points and six rebounds in the second half.

After a two-hour “Party on the Plaza” in front of the Marriott Center and a 3-point contest where Richie Saunders and Marya Hudgins edged Mrus and Delaney Gibb — somewhat awkwardly, after the scores were initially flipped and Mrus and Gibb were awarded the fan-friendly trophies — BYU put 50 minutes on the clock to allow the men’s team to warm up for the annual exhibition scrimmage.

Nearly an hour later, Dybantsa’s first look in a BYU uniform arrived.

The 6-foot-9 jumbo wing found his teammates during the 12-minute first half, dishing out five assists to go with 8 points as Blue tied White, 24-24.

Several of those found Aleksej Kostic, who had 8 points and two rebounds, and Mihailo Boskovic, who added 7 points and four boards.

Saunders led the White team through 12 minutes, scoring 7 points with a rebound and an assist, and Mboup added 7 points, three rebounds and two assists.

Regardless of results of what was mostly a practice, Davis walked away with even more respect with his new environment.

“It was electric,” he said of the nearly full lower bowl inside the 17,978-seat arena. “The ROC — that’s what it’s called, right? — it was loud. There were some first-game jitters, but it was a good experience.”

Davis has impressed coaches and staff through offseason workouts, and team sources have said the 6-foot-6 wing is a player to eye since transferring following two years at Southern Illinois.

Young’s NBA background and a coaching staff with varied professional experience attracted him to BYU. But keeping him locked in was Provo and the Utah landscape itself, he added.

“I felt like it was a great fit, even academically,” he said. “Everything just came together.

“Waking up in the morning and looking out your windows seeing mountains, it’s something like you see on TV. Everyone has been so nice, too. I’m just taking it all in, and enjoying it.”

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.