No. 23 BYU (19-6, 7-5) at No. 4 Arizona (23-2, 10-2) | McKale Center at Alkeme Arena | 7 p.m. | ESPN | 1290-AM, 92.5-FM (Spanish)
Probable starters
ARIZONA
0 G Jaden Bradley (6-3 senior)
5 G Brayden Burries (6-4 freshman)
18 F Ivan Kharchenkov (6-7 freshman)
30 F Tobe Awaka (6-8 senior)
13 C Motiejus Krivas (7-2 junior)
Key reserves
3 F Anthony Dell’Orso (6-6 senior)
15 F Sidi Gueye (6-11 freshman)
21 G Evan Nelson (6-2 senior)
BYU
1 G Robert Wright (6-1 sophomore)
30 F Kennard Davis (6-6 junior)
3 F AJ Dybantsa (6-9 freshman)
13 C Keba Keita (6-8 senior)
2 F Tyler Mrus (6-7 junior)
Key reserves
5 F Mihailo Boskovic (6-10 senior)
7 F Khadim Mboup (6-9 freshman)
6 G Alexsej Kostic (6-4 freshman)
How they match up
The last time: After taking leads of up to 19 points in the second half, Arizona led BYU just 84-83 with 16 seconds left on Jan. 26 in Provo, but UA guard Brayden Burries blocked a shot from Cougar guard Robert Wright and hit two game-sealing free throws after Wright fouled him to give UA an 86-83 win. Burries finished with 29 points while Jaden Bradley had 26.
The last time at McKale: Arizona held a 95-94 lead with 12.5 seconds left when Trey Townsend was called for a controversial foul against BYU’s Richie Saunders while guarding him along the side of the free-throw lane, and Saunders hit both ensuing free throws to give the Cougars a 96-95 win.
The series: Arizona leads the series 22-20 overall against its former WAC rival and is 2-1 against BYU in Big 12 play.
What’s new with the Cougars: Saunders won’t be back to bother the Wildcats this time, having suffered a season-ending ACL tear early in the Cougars’ win over Colorado last Saturday. The Cougars played forward Tyler Mrus and Aleksej Kostic in his place, with Kostic hitting a go-ahead 3-pointer in overtime against Colorado, though BYU is now even more dependent on the production of point guard Robert Wright and forward AJ Dybantsa.
Saunders is BYU’s third-leading scorer (18.0) and its second-leading rebounder (5.8) and a dangerous 3-point threat who took 6.8 3-pointers a game and hit them at a 37.6% rate. He provided 20.8% of the Cougars’ overall scoring.
Already missing contributors Dawson Baker (ACL), Nate Pickens (knee), Brody Kozlowski (unspecified) and Xavier Staton (unspecified) due to injury, the Cougars are expected to spread more time around without Saunders to Mrus and Kostic as well as big men Abdullah Ahmed, Khadim Mboup and Milailo Boskovic.
Wright played 40 minutes in BYU’s wins over Baylor and Colorado last week, scoring 30 points against Baylor and 39 against Colorado. Dybantsa, meanwhile, has continued on his tear toward the June NBA Draft. He played all 40 minutes against Baylor, scoring 36 points while making 7 of 8 free throws, and logged 43 against Colorado, collecting 29 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists.
Meanwhile, a hand injury has been limiting the effectiveness of center Keba Keita, who hasn’t scored or rebounded in double figures in over a month.
He said it: "I think that the guys (who) are going to get more usage are (Kostic and Mrus). They won't be running as many sets for them as they were for Saunders, but they can stretch the floor. They have shown they can hit big shots in clutch moments.
"When they were having their struggles after playing us, they really didn't change anything. I think they're committed to what they're doing, and that's really helped them.
"Those role players have gained a lot of experience, obviously in playing time, but also in understanding the timing of when to shoot. And (BYU coach Kevin Young) seems to be giving them the ultimate green light. They're shooting without hesitation. I think that the confidence that Coach Young is instilling into those role guys is going to pay off.
"Coach Young comes from the NBA, and this is what kind of NBA teams look like: They have two heavy hitters, and then role players around them. So I'm sure he's not fazed at all. Obviously, Saunders was the heart and soul of their team but (Young) has coached teams with this kind of dynamic and structure." — UA assistant coach Ken Nakagawa, who scouted the Cougars.
Key players
BYU
AJ Dybantsa
BYU forward AJ Dybantsa reacts after a play against Arizona during the second half, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Provo, Utah.
Arizona made the Big 12’s leading scorer work hard for his 24 points last month in Provo, where he was just 1 for 8 from 3-point range and 6 of 24 from the field overall. But Dybantsa did get to the free-throw line 16 times against Arizona and can damage defenses in a number of ways, scoring 28 points or more in three of his past four games.
ARIZONA
Ivan Kharchenkov
Arizona forward Ivan Kharchenkov (8) tries to get his shot off past Texas Tech forward JT Toppin (15) in the first half their Big 12 game, February 14, 2026, Tucson, Ariz.
The versatile and rugged freshman wing logged 38 of 45 minutes Saturday against Texas Tech, and that could become the norm for at least the short term. He will likely play both forward spots and will also have to at least partly deal with Dybantsa defensively.
Sidelines
A bridge and a banana
While declaring the Arizona-BYU matchup the "Galaxy Slam Basketball Game," a UA statement wove in the accomplishments of its research that have helped NASA missions with the "high flying dunks" that led to UA's 1997 national championship.
If that seems like a little bit of an, um, reach ... it is true that Lloyd has lived in both universes. He was a scientist once, as a biology major at Whitman College, and also agreed to serve as an opening act of sorts before a UA Science lecture about fruit flies on Feb. 11.
"We got time for a fruit fly joke?" Lloyd asked the crowd. "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."
In a typically self-deprecating style, Lloyd also told the audience that the oral presentation of his senior thesis on koala fecal pellets didn't go too well in part because the findings were "crappy."
"The panel convened, came back in the room, asked me a simple question: 'What's your future plan?'" Lloyd said. "I said, 'To coach basketball.'
"You should have seen the relief on their faces. All of a sudden, I passed the oral exams, but was told with one condition: I couldn't apply for medical school."
Seriously, though, Lloyd said a day later during a news conference that he was happy to help the university pull off its "Galaxy Slam" week of events.
"I love being a college basketball coach because you're part of a bigger university community, and I think that's really important," Lloyd said. "Anytime you can kind of bridge the gap between athletics and the other side of campus, I think that's really, really cool.
"There's some amazing things going on at the University of Arizona that maybe don't get as much attention as basketball that need to be showcased a little bit. So I think this is a great opportunity."
The Wildcats are scheduled to wear special midnight blue "Galaxy Slam" uniforms for Wednesday's game that feature stars embedded in the word "Arizona" and in the striping.
Stare are subtly lined into the word "Arizona" on the "Galaxy Slam" uniforms the Wildcats will wear on Feb. 18 against BYU.
Arizona drops to No. 4
After setting a program record for appearing atop the Associated Press Top 25 poll nine straight times, Arizona dropped to No. 4 on Monday after losses to Kansas and Texas Tech.
Michigan (24-1) took over the No. 1 spot while receiving 60 of 61 first-place votes, while Houston (23-2) moved to No. 2 and took the other first-place vote. Duke (23-2) was third, followed by UA (23-2) and UConn (24-2).
However, the Wildcats are No. 3 behind Michigan and Duke in both the NET ratings and Kenpom's predictive rankings, and remain in line for a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed.
Iowa State (22-3), which will appear at McKale for UA's regular-season home finale on March 2, dropped from No. 5 to No. 6 in the AP poll after losing to TCU but beating Kansas.
The Jayhawks (19-6), who beat UA before the loss to Iowa State, moved up from No. 9 to No. 8 while Texas Tech (19-6) moved up from 13 to 16 after beating Colorado and UA.
Among other Arizona opponents this season, Florida (19-6) moved from 14 to 12, and BYU (19-6) dropped from 22 to 23.
Big 12 honors no surprise
JT Toppin’s big day at McKale translated into a Big 12 Player of the Week award.
The Texas Tech big man had 31 points and 13 rebounds in the Red Raiders' 78-75 win over Arizona on Saturday, while he also had 16 points and 18 rebounds three days earlier, and on Monday, he not surprisingly earned the conference player of the week award.
Meanwhile, Dybantsa picked up his fifth Big 12 Newcomer of the Week award after averaging 28.0 points and 9.0 rebounds in BYU’s wins over Baylor and Colorado. His 20 points against Colorado tied the BYU freshman record of 18 games with 20 or more points set by Danny Ainge.
Numbers game
0: Times Arizona has lost three straight games under fifth-year coach Tommy Lloyd.
7: BYU’s rank in adjusted offensive efficiency (125.8 points scored per 100 possessions).
50: BYU’s rank in adjusted defensive efficiency (101.4 opponent points per 100 opponent possessions)
— Bruce Pascoe
