MANHATTAN, Kan. — Kansas State was unable to keep pace with one of the best college basketball teams in the nation and lost its conference opener, 83-73, against BYU on Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum.

The No. 10 Cougars were simply too strong for the Wildcats.

But K-State didn’t do itself any favors by going cold from beyond the arc.

Freshman star AJ Dybantsa scored a team-high 24 points and Robert Wright added 18 to lead a balanced effort for the Cougars. That was enough for them to lead most of the way and control the entire second half.

K-State countered with 24 points from PJ Haggerty and 18 Abdi Bashir, but it needed more against a team as good as BYU. The Wildcats have been reliant on their 3-point shooting all season, and it did not help them in this game.

K-State made a season-low three shots from 3-point range on 21 attempts.

Next up for K-State is another difficult game: at No. 1 Arizona on Wednesday.

Until then, here are takeaways from Saturday’s action:

K-State had an unusually bad game from 3-point range

The Wildcats are built on 3-point shooting.

When they are hot from the outside, they tend to win. When they go cold, they tend to lose.

Making a boatload of shots from beyond the arc is how they went 9-4 during nonconference play. They have drained at least 10 3s in eight games this year. Repeating that seemed like it could be a formula for success against BYU.

But it didn’t happen.

Bashir was the only K-State player who made a shot from downtown, as he went 3 of 8.

The Wildcats had made at least five 3-pointers in every game this season. But they were only able to connect on three against BYU. David Castillo and Nate Johnson combined to go 0 for 8 from deep.

It was a game to forget from Nate Johnson

K-State needed more scorers against a team like BYU.

Only four K-State players managed to eclipse four points — and one of the Wildcats’ starters didn’t score at all.

That starter was Nate Johnson. The senior went scoreless on five shot attempts in 31 minutes of action. He finished the day with no points, one assist, three rebounds and three turnovers.

It was a game to forget for him.

The Octagon of Doom made its first appearance of the season

K-State has played in front of mostly sparse home crowds this season, but that changed with the No. 10 BYU Cougars in town for the start of Big 12 play.

Bramlage Coliseum was sold out, even with students away for winter break.

That made for a great atmosphere. It was loud for starting lineups and the crowd roared after every dunk and 3-pointer from the home team. For the first time this season, it felt like the Octagon of Doom.

It wouldn’t have come as a surprise if BYU struggled in that environment. After all, this was the first true road game of the season for the Cougars. But that didn’t happen. They were ready to win away from home.

Of course, it probably helped that a surprisingly large number of BYU fans were in the building. B-Y-U chants broke out during timeouts. It felt like a neutral court at times.

©2026 The Wichita Eagle. Visit at kansas.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.