MANHATTEN, Kan. (ABC4 Sports) – The #10 BYU basketball team looked a little rusty coming off a 12-day layoff, but the Cougars still had enough to beat Kansas State in its Big 12 Conference opener, 83-73.

A.J. Dybantsa had 24 points to offset seven turnovers in his Big 12 Conference debut, Robert Wright III added 18 points and BYU wins its 10th straight game, its longest winning streak since 2010.

Richie Saunders had 13 points and Keba Keita pulled down a career-high 16 rebounds for the Cougars (13-1, 1-0). The Cougars overcame a season-high 19 turnovers to pull out the victory.

“Seven turnovers is unacceptable for me,” Dybantsa said. “I think they were getting into my body a little bit. But you know, I’m always in the weight room and I’ll get stronger. We will continue our practice and I’m going to be better in the future.”

“We’re not really a high turnover team,” said BYU head coach Kevin Young. “But I give Kansas State credit. They were super physical, and the only way we were able to negate that was our offensive rebounding. That’s probably what I’m the most proud of.”

BYU out-rebounded the Wildcats, 47-35, with 16 offensive rebounds.

P.J. Haggerty led the Wildcats (9-5, 0-1) with 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Abdi Bashir Jr. added 16 points, David Castillo scored 13 and Khamari McGriff finished with 12 points and eight boards.

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Not only was the game a rare matchup of BYU and Kansas State — just the 11th time the schools met — it was a showdown between Dybantsa, the nation’s second-leading scorer at 23.1 points per game, and Haggerty, who came in third at 22.9 per game.

The two stars, one a freshman and the other a fourth-year junior, lived up to the billing.

Dybantsa scored 14 of his points in the first half, mostly on the kind of midrange jumpers that could soon make him a fortune in the NBA. Haggerty answered with 14 of his own, most of those coming on physical drives to the basket.

The Cougars had the better supporting cast, though, and built a 45-35 lead by halftime.

Kansas State tried to mount a comeback in the second half, and Bashir had an open 3-point look to cut the lead to three with about 14 minutes to go. But after his shot rimmed out, Wright drilled a 3 at the other end for BYU — a six-point swing in a matter of seconds.

“We were trying to play harder than the other team every night,” Keita said. So we just wanted to dominate the glass tonight, and then we did a pretty good job.”

Dybantsa pours in career-high 35 points in BYU win

The Cougars never allowed the Wildcats to make another run over the final 10 minutes.

BYU next hosts Arizona State on Wednesday night.

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