BOSTON — Ace Dybantsa said he and his family have dreamed of this moment ever since his son, AJ, committed to BYU on Dec. 10, 2024. The Brockton kid playing back in his hometown of Boston in front of friends and family. Ace said he wasn’t sure how many people were there to watch his son, but he knew they came from Canada, Washington D.C. and all over the New England area.
AJ Dybantsa wowed the TD Garden crowd on his way to a career-high 25 points in BYU’s loss to UConn on Saturday. Before the game, his father revealed what makes the projected top-3 NBA Draft pick special and ready for whatever is next.
“Hard-working kid,” Ace Dybantsa told MassLive. “Loves the gym. That’s all he wants to do: play basketball. Watch film. Everything basketball. That’s all he wants to do. … The way I taught him, the way he was born. Just focus on the task at hand. That’s it. He’s thinking about nothing else but this game."
Even though it was AJ Dybantsa’s first game in Boston as a college player, it was still a hostile environment. BYU fans travel well, but being in Boston, UConn fans took over the Garden for the most part. There were even a couple of “overrated” chants directed AJ Dybantsa’s way after a brutal first half.
AJ Dybantsa then showed off the mental toughness that’ll serve him well not only for the rest of the college season but also in the pros. He scored 21 points in the second half, shooting 7-for-8 from the field. UConn coach Dan Hurley even called the top prospect “refreshing” because he played team basketball and not selfishly.
“Definitely just coming in as a freshman, it’s like a new environment,” AJ Dybantsa said. “I’ve played in NBA arenas before, but I’ve never played in one filled like this. Obviously, that brought a lot of fans and everything like that. I just had to stay calm, stay poised, like my coach told me.”
There will be more challenges for the freshman phenom going forward, including raucous road crowds in the Big 12. BYU will have a target on its back, partly because the Cougars have AJ Dybantsa but also because they’re a talented team. Regardless, there were real positive steps as AJ Dybantsa proved he can take over even against a talented team like UConn.
“It’s something I feel,” AJ Dybantsa said of UConn’s defense. “Just taking what they give me. If they’re going to force me, I’m going to take the mid. I’m not going to force it on the baseline. It’s a shot that I work on every single day at 6:30, I’m down to shoot those shots.”
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