The No. 24 Wisconsin Badgers take on their first ranked opponent of the season, the No. 9 BYU Cougars, at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, November 21st. Tip-off is at 3:00 p.m. on Peacock.
The Badgers are coming off their fourth-straight home victory on the season with a 94-69 win over the SIU-Edwardsville Cougars. John Blackwell led the way with 24 points and made 5-of-6 three-point shots. In addition, Nick Boyd had a solid all-around game with 22 points, five assists, three rebounds, and two steals.
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Friday’s game will be a rematch of the 2025 NCAA Tournament second-round matchup, where BYU held on to win 91-89 in Denver. What should Badger fans know about this year’s BYU Cougars’ team?
Opponent Preview
Kevin Young and BYU are 3-1 on the season but are coming off a hard-fought loss to No. 3 UConn at TD Garden in Boston. The Cougars, down by as many as 20 points in the second half, rallied back to make it 84-82 UConn with 20 seconds left in the game before falling 86-84. Despite the loss, their comeback was impressive as they lost starting forward Keba Keita to injury in the first half. His status for Friday is still up in the air.
In the offseason, BYU landed prized high school recruit AJ Dybantsa with an NIL deal reportedly worth up to $7 million. So far, the potential no. 1 NBA Draft pick has not disappointed, as Dybantsa leads the Cougars with 20.3 points and 6.8 rebounds on incredible efficiency. Against UConn, Dybantsa had 21 second-half points in BYU’s comeback attempt.
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The BYU backcourt is led by First-Team All-Big 12 guard Richie Saunders and Baylor transfer Robert Wright III. Wisconsin fans should already be familiar with Saunders from last year’s NCAA Tournament game. Saunders is BYU’s second-leading scorer with 19.5 points per game, second-leading rebounder with 6.3 rebounds per game, and the team-leader in steals with 2.0 steals per game. Wright III leads the Cougars with 4.3 assists per game and is BYU’s third leading scorer with 17.8 points per game.
The Cougars’ frontcourt is worth monitoring, given Keita’s status. Mihailo Boskovic, a 6-foot-10 senior from Serbia, got his first start of the season against UConn. Boskovic finished the game 2-of-8 from the field, 0-for-5 from behind the three-point line, and scored four points and five rebounds.
Score Prediction
This is the first significant test for the Wisconsin Badgers, as both teams enter this game in KenPom’s top-10 in offensive efficiency. How will this team 1) play their first game outside of the Kohl Center and 2) handle one of the most athletic teams in college basketball?
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If Keita is not able to go against Wisconsin, then the Badgers must attack the Cougars’ frontcourt. At the end of the day, it will be about who gets the last few stops. This game will go down to the final minutes, but given the proximity of this game to Provo, I’m going with the Cougars in a close one.
Prediction: BYU 88-84.
