How BYU, AJ Dybantsa caused Clemson basketball's second-half collapse
It was supposed to be the crowning achievement of Clemson basketball‘s season so far.
The Tigers led by 22 points with 19:50 left in the game against No. 10 BYU on Dec. 9 after closing the first half on a 21-0 run to have a 21-point halftime lead. Per ESPN’s broadcast, this was Clemson’s first 10-plus halftime lead against an AP top-10 team since Feb. 15, 2020, against Louisville, putting the Tigers in position for their first ranked win this season.
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Clemson led while containing Cougars 6-foot-8 freshman forward AJ Dybantsa, the potential first overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, to only six points and 2-of-6 shooting.
“I thought the first 20 minutes we played, maybe, our best basketball this season,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said Dec. 9.
Then, everything went wrong.
BYU (8-2) mounted its largest second-half comeback in program history to beat Clemson 67-64 in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York. Cougars guard Robert Wright III hit the game-winning buzzer-beater 3-pointer to escape an upset.
ESPN analytics gave Clemson (7-3) a 98.5% chance when the Tigers had a 22-point lead with 18:52 left in the game. Yet, BYU outscored the Tigers 45-21 in the second half, even after Clemson had time to regroup during a 15-minute delay to fix a bent rim.
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Dybantsa went on a tear to propel BYU. He sought advantageous matchups, posting up smaller Clemson guards to shoot mid-range jumpers and acted as the ball handler on pick-and-roll plays to find easy routes to the basket.
When the Tigers sent different coverages at Dybantsa, he became a playmaker, finding open teammates for easy 3-pointers and alley-oops. Dybantsa logged career highs in points (28), rebounds (nine) and assists (six).
Twenty two of his points, seven of his rebounds and five of his assists came in the second half. Dybantsa scored more points, logged more assists and shot the ball better (7-of-11) than Clemson in the final 20 minutes.
Brownell said Clemson’s top goal was to not send Dybantsa to the free-throw line. He had two attempts in the first half but earned eight in the second to make nine free throws.
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“He’s a great player, so he’s going to eventually find some rhythm, and he made some big plays,” Brownell said.
Clemson’s offense could not maintain its production from its strong first half. The Tigers shot 7-of-27 in the second half, including three 3-pointers; In the first half, Clemson made 14 shots and six threes.
BYU’s zone-press defense stifled Clemson, forcing the Tigers to take shots late in the shot clock and commit eight turnovers in the second half. Clemson committed a season-high 12 turnovers and shot a season-low 36%.
“We kind of got stagnant,” Clemson guard Dillon Hunter said. “We weren’t flowing into our offense as well.”
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Clemson fell to 1-2 in Quad 1 games, beating Georgia at a neutral site and losing to No. 12 Alabama on the road, but has been competitive in each game. Still, Brownell recognizes being competitive isn’t good enough against the NCAA tournament-caliber teams.
“My guys keep playing, but we have to play better basketball against elite teams,” Brownell said.
Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at DCarter@usatodayco.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: How BYU, AJ Dybantsa ruined Clemson basketball’s upset bid