PROVO — BYU suffered its first loss last week, and lost a regular starter for an indefinite amount of time, as well.
Following the Cougars’ 86-84 loss to then-No. 3 UConn at TD Garden in Boston, head coach Kevin Young confirmed that usual starter Kennard Davis Jr. had been suspended — or “held out” — for a violation of team rules, according to the Associated Press.
“To be determined on the length,” he added in his only brief public comments on the situation.
The Cougars (3-1) dropped two spots to No. 9 after Saturday’s 2-point loss. UConn stayed at No. 3, while Purdue inched ahead of Houston for No. 1 a week after the Big 12’s other Cougars (4-0) claimed the top spot over the Big Ten’s Boilermakers (4-0).
Arizona (4-0) and Duke (4-0) rounded out the top five. Six teams from the Big 12 were ranked in the Week 3 edition of the poll, while Baylor (11) and Kansas State (1) also received votes.
Davis was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence Thursday after a car crash in Provo, according to a news release from the Provo Police Department. After the accident, which occurred around 11:50 a.m. MST at the intersection of 900 West and Center Street, Davis was transported to the police station and cited, according to the brief statement.
He was released after receiving medical treatment for minor injuries, police added, and had his vehicle impounded, the statement added.
Davis, 20, was with the team in Boston, but did not dress and was on the team in street clothes while five-star freshman AJ Dybantsa dropped a game-high 25 points with six rebounds in the arena located about 25 miles from his hometown of Brockton, Massachussetts.
“It was exciting,” Dybantsa said after the game. “It definitely saw some familiar faces in the crowd. I haven’t played in front of some of those people in a long, long time. It was good to be out here.”
Dawson Baker started in place of Davis for the past two games, including an 85-68 win over Delaware when Davis sat out with Achilles’ soreness. The former UC Irvine transfer from Coto De Caza, California, scored a season-high 12 points against the Huskies (4-0), including a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left that cut a second-half deficit as large as 20 to 84-82.
The school said in a statement that it was aware of the allegations and looking into the situation. No probable cause statement had been released by Provo police as of Monday morning.
Among other things, the university’s honor code requires all students to abstain from alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee, vaping, marijuana and “other substance abuse.”
Davis started the first two games of the season, averaging 9.0 points in a pair of wins over Villanova in Las Vegas and Holy Cross at home.
The Southern Illinois transfer from St. Louis started 41 of 64 games with the Salukis the past two seasons, including averaging 16.3 points and 4.9 rebounds in 32 games a year ago.
The Cougars host No. 23 Wisconsin (3-0) on Friday at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
Contributing: Associated Press
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