What to expect from BYU as Big 12 schedule stiffens

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In the coming weeks, No. 11 BYU will play some of the best teams in college basketball and they’ll all be within the Big 12.

In the next 15 league games, the Cougars will play No. 1 Arizona twice, No. 15 Texas Tech twice, No. 7 Houston, No. 2 Iowa State, Kansas, Baylor, Oklahoma State and West Virginia. That is a brutal stretch of games.

Arizona, Iowa State and Houston are a combined 47-1 heading into this week.

A year ago, the Cougars started the Big 12 season 1-3 with a win over ASU and losses to Houston, Texas Tech and TCU. Right now, the Cougars are off to a 3-0 start heading into a game with TCU Wednesday.

The remaining 15 games feature 10 Quad 1 opponents and four Quad 2 foes. BYU has never played this kind of schedule, but it’s never had this much talent to try to handle it. Joe Lunardi has the Cougars as a No. 3 seed playing in Portland in the NCAA Tournament.

Question of the week

Can BYU remain undefeated this week in Big 12 play? The Cougars started league play facing the lowest-ranked teams and now will face the very best, starting with Texas Tech on Saturday after hosting TCU on Wednesday. Facing a stretch of games that includes No. 1 Arizona twice, and Houston and Kansas, is Kevin Young’s team ready?

Jay Drew: After BYU eked past Utah 89-84 Saturday night in Salt Lake City to record its 12th-straight win, the Cougars tumbled from No. 9 to No. 11 in the Associated Press Top 25. Coach Kevin Young was not amused when he chatted with reporters Monday afternoon, saying he doesn’t understand how a team could drop after winning a pair of games against power conference opponents, let alone a rival on the road.

“We have one loss by 2 points against the No. 3 team (UConn) in the country, in their backyard, and we were down two starters. So I don’t understand how we dropped in the polls. But that’s neither here nor there,” Young said.

Suffice it to say, the Cougars should remain in place, or move up a spot or two, if they can win a pair of games this week, especially the Saturday contest at No. 15 Texas Tech. That game will be the toughest game to date, bar none, on BYU’s schedule. The Cougars’ football team learned just how hard it is to play in Lubbock.

Can Young’s 15-1 squad pull it off? I am skeptical, because winning a Big 12 game on the road, let alone against a top-15 team, is extremely difficult. Everything will have to go right in Lubbock for the Cougars to win. They must be totally healthy, stay out of foul trouble (especially the Big 3) and limit turnovers.

Despite their 3-0 start in Big 12 play, turnovers have plagued the Cougars.

I think they also need a little more from their bench, which was virtually nonexistent against Utah. Guys like Tyler Mrus, Mihailo Boskovic and Abdullah Ahmed have got to step up and make some shots.

Is Young’s team ready? I think the top-notch nonconference schedule prepared them well, and the game at Utah gave them a little taste of what playing in front of a really hostile crowd can be like. It should be fun to watch.

Dick Harmon: That BYU is 15-1 and has been ranked in the top 10 is a major accomplishment considering the youth, chemistry building, injuries and flaws Kevin Young’s team has shown so far this year.

The Cougars have shown to be improved on defense, appear more athletic and have greater length than last year’s Sweet 16 team. But we’ve seen lapses where this team loses focus, turns the ball over on inane passes, becomes disengaged on defense by allowing easy buckets, and at times, players do not block out and rebound properly.

The most disturbing aspect of this is having players take plays off at times. But when Young has his guys locked in, they look unbeatable. Young’s challenge is to amp up the engagement and get past those times where they seem to coast. Part of that may be that starters have to play a lot of minutes. Young must get some guys to step up and get some productive minutes so the Big 3 (AJ Dybantsa, Robert Wright III and Richie Saunders) can stay fresh.

All of these challenges are fixable. And not all of these things surface all the time. If BYU fixes its consistency, it will be fine; however, when you have to play No. 1 Arizona twice, and play Kansas and Texas Tech in coming weeks, BYU should prepare to see their Cougars suffer a loss or losses — this league is that good. The addition of center Abdullah Ahmed has been huge and he will be sorely needed in weeks to come as a rim protector, screener and rebounder.

I don’t know what struggles Kenneth Davis is going through, but he’s in a little slump. He is a great defender and he needs to be himself in this stretch. It was encouraging to see Utah double and triple Dybantsa and then have Saunders and Wright simply shift gears and take over that game in Salt Lake City.

Cougar tales

BYU football just finished a remarkable retention effort, essentially keeping all returning starters from a 12-2 program that won the Pop-Tarts Bowl and played in the Big 12 title game. To add to that, the Cougars picked up three highly ranked offensive linemen and three linebackers in the transfer portal this past week.

Here are our recruiting stories on these additions:

• BYU adds three offensive line transfers (Jackson Payne)
• Cougars pick up transfer linebacker from Cal (Joe Coles)
• Kansas State linebacker headed to BYU (Jackson Payne)
• USC tight end Walker Lyons now a Cougar (Jackson Payne)

BYU men’s basketball held on to defeat Utah in the Huntsman Center on Saturday as the Big 12 continues to register the best teams in college hoops, as illustrated by my analysis here. Jay Drew explains why the Cougars struggled to beat Utah as a 14-point favorite.

From the archives

From X-verse

Of BYU’s 15 remaining Big 12 games:

10 are currently in Quad 1

4 are currently in Quad 2

1 is currently in Quad 3https://t.co/X6ZFREfoRB

— Greg Wrubell (@gregwrubell) January 13, 2026

BYU's Jack Kelly finished with the most QB pressures (29) of any P4 Linebacker in America.

Second most sacks among P4 LBs (9) as well.

And he was playing injured the last half of the season. Gutted his way through it.

I'm stoked to see where he lands in the NFL. pic.twitter.com/L9nG53rvLw

— Jarom Jordan (@jaromjordan) January 13, 2026

Uluave is the 10th 247Sports four-star to sign with BYU in the c/o 2026:

Ryder Lyons
Brock Harris
Bott Mulitalo
Adam Bywater
Ty Goettsche
Jaron Pula
Kennan Pula
Lopeti Moala
Walker Lyons
Cade Uluave

— Jeff Hansen (@rakoto10) January 13, 2026

Extra points

• Egor Demin making believers as sniper (Deseret News)
• Dybantsa gives rivalry game impressions (KSLsports)
• Former BYU runners excel (Deseret News)

Fanalysts

Comments from Deseret News readers:

I don’t understand the huge disconnect between Utah’s Kenpom ratings and the way they played last night. No excuse for the Utah fans to not show up and support their team. There is also a disconnect the way Utah was motivated to play last night and not be motivated enough to win the rest of their home games the rest of the season. Either lack of team character or the game was an anomaly for Utah because they way outperformed their season stats last night. As a Cougar fan I thought Utah played very well last night or way over their heads.

— 512boxer

Let me clarify that I am not a BYU fan. If I were, I would not get too upset about anything in the rankings. As I see college basketball this year, there are probably close to 20 teams that could go on a run and win the national championship, BYU is one of them. They are going to have some great games going forward and I would guess that they will lose again. However, this BYU team can beat any team in the country on any given night. It could be a fun March for BYU fans.

— Former_Coach

Up Next

• Jan. 14 | 9 p.m. | men’s basketball | TCU
• Jan. 15 | 8 a.m. | track and field | Snake River Open (Idaho)
• Jan. 16 | TBA | swimming | Big 12 Duel in the West, Tempe
• Jan. 16 | 7 p.m.| gymnastics | Boise State
• Jan. 17 | 7 p.m. | men’s volleyball | UC San Diego
• Jan. 17 | 11 a.m. | women’s tennis  | @ Utah Tech
• Jan. 17 | noon | men’s tennis | Weber State
• Jan. 17 | 2 p.m. | women’s basketball | Baylor
• Jan. 17 | 6 p.m. | men’s basketball | @ Texas Tech
• Jan. 17 | 7 p.m. | men’s volleyball | UC San Diego