{"id":660071,"date":"2026-02-27T20:04:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T01:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/?p=660071"},"modified":"2026-02-27T20:06:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T01:06:48","slug":"as-mountaineers-try-move-forward-from-recent-struggles-freshman-sensation-dybantsa-awaits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/27\/as-mountaineers-try-move-forward-from-recent-struggles-freshman-sensation-dybantsa-awaits\/","title":{"rendered":"As Mountaineers try to move forward from recent struggles, freshman sensation Dybantsa awaits"},"content":{"rendered":"

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. \u2014<\/b> West Virginia is mired in a three-game losing streak for the first time under head coach Ross Hodge.<\/p>\n

To make the slump a thing of the past, the Mountaineers have to find a way to be successful Saturday against No. 19 BYU when the teams battle at 5:30 p.m. Saturday inside Hope Coliseum for a matchup airing on FOX.<\/p>\n

That means contending with freshman sensation AJ Dybantsa, the leading scorer in the Big 12 Conference at 25.1 points and one the top pro prospects in all of college basketball in recent memory.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s definitely worthy of all the praise and attention that he\u2019s gotten,\u201d Hodge said. \u201cWhat impresses you as much as his talent, which is very impressive, is his commitment to his teammates and how he celebrates those guys and his leadership for a young player on top of what he can do individually.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 6-foot-9, Dybantsa has a surplus of size for a primary ball-handler. It\u2019s part of what makes his skill set so unique. He shoots north of 53 percent from the field, averages almost seven rebounds and four assists and shoots more than eight free throws per game thanks in large part to an ability to consistently draw contact.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Feb 21, 2026; Provo, Utah, USA; BYU Cougars forward AJ Dybantsa (3) drives while being defended by Iowa State Cyclones forward Joshua Jefferson (5) during the first half at Marriott Center. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Baker-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a problem in every facet of the game,\u201d Hodge said. \u201cHe certainly can distort you in ways that a lot of people can\u2019t because of his size, versatility and fluidity. Typically, in your transition defense, your guards are going to be the ones stopping the ball and he can create an automatic mismatch from the jump because he has the ball in his hands so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cougars are relying on Dybantsa even more at present after Richie Saunders suffered a significant season-ending injury. Saunders averaged 18 points and has missed three straight games, and in essence four, as the injury occurred in the first minute of what amounted to an overtime victory against Colorado. Saunders\u2019 64 three-pointers remain a team high, but Dybantsa has the luxury of another consistent scorer in guard Robert Wright III, who averages 18.1 points and has 50 triples.<\/p>\n

BYU averages 84.6 points, good for second among Big 12 teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you play [Dybantsa] individually and live with if he gets 35 or 40, or try to shrink gaps and live with are these other guys going to make shots? That is the challenge,\u201d Hodge said. \u201cHe\u2019s shown the ability that he can beat you both ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cougars (20-8, 8-7) have dropped two of their last three and six of nine since a 17-2 start. Most recently, Central Florida had its way offensively and cruised to a road win over the Cougars, 97-84, on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

WVU (16-12, 7-8) has lost three straight by a total of 18 points, most recently suffering a 91-84 overtime setback at Oklahoma State on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The Mountaineers struggled to get stops for much of the contest, with Hodge referring to the first half of that game as his team\u2019s worst defensive half of the season.<\/p>\n

Still, much like the game before at TCU, the win was there for the taking late and the Mountaineers were unable to close strong.<\/p>\n

West Virginia continues to put itself in position where it\u2019s required to overcome significant second-half deficits, and while the Mountaineers have often caught up or led late, they\u2019ve been unable to pull through recently.<\/p>\n

WVU has played eight straight games decided by 10 or fewer points and recorded a 3-5 record over that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe initial aftermath of any loss you\u2019re going to be disappointed, but we\u2019re mature enough and from a leadership standpoint,\u201d Hodge said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard not to just fall into the trap of you win and you\u2019re great, you lose and you\u2019re terrible. We\u2019ve been fortunate enough to win some one-possession games that easily could\u2019ve went the other way and the last three games we were in easily could\u2019ve went our way, but they didn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut you\u2019re not looking at an insurmountable mountain to climb. A block out here, a free throw there, a rebound here, a made shot here, a missed shot here, that\u2019s the difference in what you\u2019re dealing with. Do you have the emotional intelligence and maturity to stay the course and stay together, which this group does better than anybody I\u2019ve been around, and still find a level of excitement in what you\u2019re doing every day. That\u2019s where if you love basketball and love each other and love challenges, then you\u2019re going to be in the right place. There\u2019s going to be a certain level of excitement even in the midst of disappointing times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

West Virginia welcomes 19th-ranked BYU on Saturday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":659664,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-660071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-wvu-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nAs Mountaineers try to move forward from recent struggles, freshman sensation Dybantsa awaits - WV MetroNews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/27\/as-mountaineers-try-move-forward-from-recent-struggles-freshman-sensation-dybantsa-awaits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"As Mountaineers try to move forward from recent struggles, freshman sensation Dybantsa awaits - WV MetroNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"West Virginia welcomes 19th-ranked BYU on Saturday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/27\/as-mountaineers-try-move-forward-from-recent-struggles-freshman-sensation-dybantsa-awaits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WV MetroNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-28T01:04:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-28T01:06:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.us-east-005.backblazeb2.com\/wvmn-s3\/2026\/02\/USATSI_28331731-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1706\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Greg Carey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GCWVM\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Greg Carey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/27\/as-mountaineers-try-move-forward-from-recent-struggles-freshman-sensation-dybantsa-awaits\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/27\/as-mountaineers-try-move-forward-from-recent-struggles-freshman-sensation-dybantsa-awaits\/\",\"name\":\"As Mountaineers try to move forward from recent struggles, freshman sensation Dybantsa awaits - WV MetroNews\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/27\/as-mountaineers-try-move-forward-from-recent-struggles-freshman-sensation-dybantsa-awaits\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/27\/as-mountaineers-try-move-forward-from-recent-struggles-freshman-sensation-dybantsa-awaits\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.us-east-005.backblazeb2.com\/wvmn-s3\/2026\/02\/USATSI_28331731-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-28T01:04:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-28T01:06:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/#\/schema\/person\/8324f346169797b454f579915017b322\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/27\/as-mountaineers-try-move-forward-from-recent-struggles-freshman-sensation-dybantsa-awaits\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/27\/as-mountaineers-try-move-forward-from-recent-struggles-freshman-sensation-dybantsa-awaits\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/27\/as-mountaineers-try-move-forward-from-recent-struggles-freshman-sensation-dybantsa-awaits\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.us-east-005.backblazeb2.com\/wvmn-s3\/2026\/02\/USATSI_28331731-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.us-east-005.backblazeb2.com\/wvmn-s3\/2026\/02\/USATSI_28331731-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1706,\"caption\":\"Feb 24, 2026; Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers coach Ross Hodge watches game play during the first half against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Gallagher-Iba Arena. 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