BYU’s trip to Texas Tech looms huge for both in Big 12 race

The BYU football team found Lubbock, Texas, a difficult place to leave with a smile.

On Saturday, Kevin Young and his No. 11-ranked 16-1 Cougars will try to leave with positive vibes.

It’s a heavy challenge.

The Cougars face No. 15-ranked Texas Tech (13-4, 3-1) in what should be a donnybrook. One of those games the Cougars may not come back from if they fall behind — which is their familiar routine.

Road wins are tough to earn in the Big 12.

It’s like sneaking into Fort Knox and leaving with some gold dust.

Take previously undefeated No. 2-ranked Iowa State’s excursion into Lawrence playing unranked Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse. ISU got chased out of the building, beaten by 21 points. The proud and 16-0 Cyclones left kind of humiliated.

BYU will ride into Lubbock having won 13 straight games, but has never defeated the Raiders since joining the Big 12.

Young’s lads haven’t left a locker room with sad faces since Nov. 15 in TD Garden after losing by two points to then-No. 2 UConn, right around the corner from their home campus.

That’s just over two months of locker room celebrations.

TT’s head coach Grant McCasland coached BYU’s AJ Dybantsa on the USA team that won the U19 World Championship in Europe.

“He’s great with sharing the ball, and that’s what I love about him. I just think he’s a great competitor and a great teammate. He doesn’t have to score to impact winning,” said McCasland after his team defeated Utah.

Arizona has two conference road wins, at Utah and TCU. The Cougars have won at Utah and Kansas State. Houston won at Cincinnati and Baylor. Texas Tech had a win at Colorado but it was a narrow 73-71 victory.

So, @BYUMBB is now 16-1 with wins over Miami, Dayton, Clemson, Wisconsin, Villanova. (Those teams combined record is 68-17.) The only loss is to No. 3 @UConnMBB. Saturday night No. 11 Cougars head to No. 15 @TexasTechMBB for a showdown on the South Plains.

— Fran Fraschilla (@franfraschilla) January 15, 2026

One could say that, so far, the Big 12 road wins have come from ranked teams over unranked teams in the league — picking on the lower echelon in league standings.

On Saturday, the Cougars won’t be playing one of those lower-ranked Big 12 teams in the standings. Texas Tech has an impressive 82-81 win over then-No. 3-ranked Duke in Madison Square Garden.

The four Raider losses have come to No. 1 Purdue, 86-56; No. 7 Houston, 69-55; No. 14 Illinois, 81-77; and No. 17 Arkansas, 93-86.

Those are legitimate, quality losses for the TT squad.

The win over Duke is a big deal.

The Cougars will face the league’s best big man, 6-foot-9 scoring and rebounding machine JT Toppin, who is averaging 21 points and 11.1 rebounds per game.

The other big threat is guard Christian Anderson, who averaged 19 points and seven assists per outing.

Tech uses eight players in a rotation that are seeing double-digit minutes of play.

The Cougars will counter the Red Raiders’ “Big 2″ with a trio many consider the most consistent scoring trifecta in college basketball, AJ Dybantsa, Richie Saunders and Robert Wright III.

All three can be counted upon to deliver 20-plus-point games, oftentimes in the same game.

If TT was to get its two big guns going, and BYU got its three big weapons to deliver, it would seem the Cougars would have more than a chance to chase points with the Raiders.

But there are always variables like rebounding — offensive and defensive— 3-pointers made and defended, turnovers and overall defensive prowess. BYU has been up and down with all those variables, but the worst culprit has been falling behind opponents. The Cougars have staged half a dozen comebacks in their wins.

Is that sustainable? On the road?

The Cougars are a remarkable 27-3 in the last 30 games and those three losses were to top-10 teams.

That is a remarkable run for Young, his staff and the players he has assembled.

BYU has shown a penchant for making key adjustments, and for staging impressive offensive and defensive stands at critical times. The big plays are there, like the buzzer-beater by Wright to defeat Clemson in Madison Square Garden, the 17 points in 11 minutes of the second half by Dybantsa to beat TCU on Wednesday, and the career rebounding effort by Saunders in a win at Utah.

What the Cougars need is their “Big 3″ to deliver. Each one of this threesome has proven ability to take over games. Dybantsa, when called upon, has been almost unstoppable by opponents. His scoring acumen is trending to be the best in BYU history for a freshman.

The Cougars are 2.5-point underdogs in this key battle between two ranked Big 12 teams.

This Saturday kicks off a real gauntlet for the Cougars with a pair of games against No. 1 Arizona on the horizon; a rematch in Provo with Texas Tech, games with Houston and Iowa State, and trips to Kansas, Baylor, Oklahoma State and West Virginia to end the Big 12 slate.

Road wins against the league’s top teams will be significantly weighed for anybody making a title run. Protection of home court is an absolute must.

This one will be a battle, one many would expect the Cougars to lose.

BYU holds a slim lead over TT in almost every statistical category. All it would take is for one or two of BYU’s strengths to falter under this pressure.

Drama?

Tune in.