Wisconsin basketball vs #9 BYU Cougars: 5 Ws preview
BYU could be down two of its starters, and Wisconsin basketball could have a golden opportunity to boost its NCAA Tournament resume
Less than eight months ago, Wisconsin basketball ended its season in heartbreaking fashion against the BYU Cougars (3-1). Despite trailing by 14 with just 10:25 remaining in the second half, the Wisconsin Badgers (4-0) ended up falling just one shot short of reaching the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in eight seasons. Most of the faces on the court that night in Denver are now gone from their respective teams, but that recent history looms large in an early-season rematch.
Six of the nine Badgers who played in that 2025 NCAA Tournament game are no longer in Madison, but you might not know it from the way head coach Greg Gard’s roster is treating the meeting with No. 9 BYU.
After a win over the SIUE Cougars on Monday, transfer guard Nick Boyd mentioned Wisconsin’s next opponent unprompted. Boyd said the way SIUE made tough shots “foreshadows our next game coming up against BYU. A lot of talented offensive players who are gonna make some tough shots at the end of the clock.”
Who to watch: AJ Dybantsa
Could it be anyone else?
The true freshman and potential number-one pick in the 2026 NBA Draft is a matchup nightmare and the epitome of a talented offensive player who is going to make some tough shots on Friday afternoon. At 6-foot-9 and 212 pounds, the Brockton, Massachusetts native is not of tremendous size in the frontcourt. His explosiveness and apparent newfound ability to step out and make shots on occasion, however, can force opposing defenses to bring their bigs outside or into mismatches on switches.
Even if Dybantsa, who did not profile as a shooter coming into college, cannot find a three-point shooting stroke against Wisconsin, he can take the Badgers’ bigs out with foul trouble. The 2025 McDonald’s All-American draws over six personal fouls per game, but is only shooting 65.2% at the line.
Against a Wisconsin frontcourt that, beyond starters Nolan Winter and Austin Rapp, has struggled to defend without fouling, Dybantsa threatens to eclipse 20 points against a high-major opponent for the third time in as many tries.
What to watch: Is Wisconsin basketball really an elite offensive rebounding team?
BYU might be a candidate to regress up as an offensive rebounding team, given how it has performed through four games. To date, this Cougars team ranks only 133rd in offensive rebounding rate, but has the requisite size and philosophical makings to be better in that department.
But is Wisconsin’s mark as the 24th-best team on the offensive glass a mirage?
Under Greg Gard, the Badgers have rarely come down with a plethora of offensive boards, finishing outside the top 100 in offensive rebound rate each of the past eight seasons. So far, UW is bucking that trend. While boasting the eighth-tallest roster in men’s DI college basketball, Wisconsin has corralled 57 offensive boards on 127 misses from the field.
In its first four games against low and mid-major competition a season ago, Wisconsin collected only 34 offensive rebounds on 123 misses.
BYU head coach Kevin Young admitted in a media call on Wednesday that against a team with UW’s size, “it can be difficult to rebound at times, but then there’s also advantages. If we elect to go a little bit smaller, it can be really challenging to keep up with the space and pace in the perimeter attack. So I think there’s a give and take.”
Young sometimes opts for a four-guard lineup. It could cause defensive challenges for the Badgers. On the other hand, Wisconsin’s guards rebounding three-point misses, as they did 12 times against the Ball State Cardinals, could be the best of both worlds for UW.
Either way, this feels like a game in which Badgers forward Nolan Winter, who is averaging 14.3 points and 9.3 rebounds this season, needs to come up big.
Why to watch: BYU availability concerns; opportunity for Wisconsin signature win
With only so many games on a college basketball schedule before Selection Sunday, teams have to seize big wins where they can find them. Against the Cougars, in Utah, might be one of the handful of best opportunities for the Badgers to bolster their NCAA Tournament resume.
On Wisconsin’s team sheet, this game will almost certainly go down as a Quadrant 1 opportunity. Neither the day Wisconsin and BYU played nor who was available for the Cougars will be an asterisk next to a potential season-bouying victory.
In BYU’s most recent game, a two-point loss to the UConn Huskies, starting center Keba Keita suffered an upper-body injury. The veteran provides a modest scoring output, but is an excellent rim protector. Without Keita available for most of the game against the Huskies, Young said his team’s defense at the basket suffered.
“He’s trending in the right direction,” Young said on Wednesday of Keita’s potential availability against Wisconsin.
“I’ve gotten good feedback in terms of he is doing better,” the second-year head coach added. “But at the same time, he is currently still out. It is more positive than it is not, but the situation that he’s in is more of a day-to-day type thing.”
Kennard Davis, another starter for BYU, also figures to be out on Friday. According to multiple reports, the junior was arrested and cited for driving under the influence and marijuana possession following a motor vehicle crash last week in Provo, Utah. Davis has since pleaded not guilty to all charges.
“I think it’s safe [to assume he won’t play Friday],” Young said of the transfer wing’s status after missing the past two games. “But I also think there’s a lot of stuff being sorted out.”
In BYU’s first two games, Davis averaged nine points, a rebound, and 1.5 assists in 27.0 minutes.
How to watch Wisconsin basketball vs BYU basketball
Where: Delta Center — Salt Lake City, Utah
When: Friday, November 21st, 3:00 p.m. Central
Watch/TV/Streaming: Peacock (Play-by-play: James Westling; Analyst:
Mike O’Donnell)
Listen/Radio: Badger Radio Sports Network / The Varsity App / SiriusXM 211 or 195 (Play-by-play: Chris Vosters; Analyst: Brian Butch)
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