What positives can BYU take from its loss to No. 4 Arizona?
BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) shoots over Arizona guard Brayden Burries during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, in Tucson, Ariz. | Rick Scuteri TUCSON, Ariz. — Kevin Young has said he isn’t a “moral victory guy.” Even if he was, too much went wrong for BYU Wednesday night against No. 4 Arizona to truly qualify as such.
The Cougars were frigid from 3-point range, while allowing the Wildcats to hit 43% of their triples. BYU didn’t have enough scoring outside of AJ Dybantsa and Rob Wright III, gave up too many offensive rebounds, and watched another individual opponent enjoy a career night offensively — take a bow, Anthony Dell’Orso. Chalking up the 75-68 loss at McKale Center as a moral victory would be a stretch.
But even so, don’t dismiss the effort entirely. BYU offered plenty of reasons for optimism. “Super disappointed we weren’t able to get the win. We have a locker room that isn’t going to go away, I can tell you that right now. It’s going to be a dogfight every time you play BYU, and we’re going to keep pounding that rock until it breaks.
It will break for us eventually.” BYU coach Kevin Young The rematch with Arizona was essentially the start of a new season for the Cougars, who are scrambling to navigate life without Richie Saunders , their fourth victim of a season-ending injury. BYU is reinventing itself, as Young puts it, where “everything is on the table” in order to right the ship. “This is a resilient group.
In all my years of coaching, I have never had four guys get hurt for the season. We’re going through it,” Young told reporters postgame. “That’s sports, that’s life. I’m proud of our guys for their effort tonight and their effort in practice the last couple days. We’re trying to reinvent ourselves on the fly, and I think there were a lot of good things that happened tonight.
“Super disappointed we weren’t able to get the win. We have a locker room that isn’t going to go away, I can tell you that right now. It’s going to be a dogfight every time you play BYU, and we’re going to keep pounding that rock until it breaks.
It will break for us eventually.” Wednesday’s dogfight saw BYU hang with the mighty but shorthanded Wildcats for nearly all of the first half, holding a lead for just under five minutes and appearing up for the tall task at hand. In fact, BYU led at the first media timeout for the first time in a Big 12 road game all season.
Credit to the Cougars for avoiding another slow start and finally being able to bury one of the craziest stats of the year. But after trailing by a single point in the final minute before halftime, BYU gave up two Dell’Orso 3-pointers and a Jaden Bradley bucket off a turnover to go into intermission down by seven.
Arizona built a 16-point advantage in the second half, only for the Cougars to nearly erase it with a late 18-7 surge. The rally ultimately fell short — add it to BYU’s pile of unsuccessful comebacks this season. The Cougars, as they’ve shown many times already, just don’t quit, even when their circumstances are pure chaos.
The fight against Arizona was admirable, especially considering no one likely would have batted an eye had heavy underdog BYU been blown out. Again, it’s not a moral victory. But BYU’s attitude can be a strength down the stretch. “You’re playing against a historic program that has had a fantastic year. They were down guys too, but you’re in their house.