Boston Celtics
“That’s as high a level of shot-making as you’ll see in college basketball.”
AJ Dybantsa scored 25 points in his first college game in Boston. Barry Chin/Globe Staff
Saturday may have been an expected return to the Commonwealth for Brockton native AJ Dybantsa.
But the BYU star and projected top-three pick in the 2026 NBA Draft didn’t exactly get a warm welcome on the parquet floor of TD Garden.
The Massachusetts product may have had plenty of family and friends at TD Garden for the 18-year-old forward’s first game on Causeway Street since his days playing for St. Sebastian’s.
But in a game against the No. 3 ranked UConn Huskies, Dybantsa and the No. 7 BYU Cougars crossed into enemy territory – with a majority of the Garden crowd donning Huskies gear.
“Just coming in as a freshman, it’s like a new environment,” Dybantsa said. “I mean, I’ve played in NBA arenas before, but I’ve never played with a feeling like that. And obviously they brought a lot of fans and everything like that. So I just had to stay calm and stay poised.”
Whether it was a hostile crowd, first jitters upon his return to Massachusetts, or a terrifying matchup against an imposing UConn roster, Dybantsa worked his way out of the gate in Saturday’s heavyweight bout in the Hall of Fame series.
But not for long.
After scoring four points in the first half, Dybantsa helped turn a potential blowout for the Cougars into a nail-biter – finishing with 21 points in the final 20 minutes of play en route to an eventual 86-84 Huskies victory.
Despite Dybantsa’s heroics down the stretch, it wasn’t enough to topple a UConn squad that built an early lead and never relinquished it — despite several attempts by the Cougars to claw back.
For all the talk about Dybantsa’s return to Massachusetts, it was also a welcome homecoming for Huskies redshirt senior Alex Karaban — with the Southborough native one of three UConn players to score 21 points, along with three rebounds, two steals and a block.
“I loved it,” Karaban said of playing at TD Garden. “I mean, I definitely had this game circled. … It was special. Some of my favorite games of my UConn career were the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games when we came here two years ago. So just being blessed to have the opportunity to come back here and play with another UConn team was great. I loved every second of it.”
“I mean, AJ deserves it,” Karaban added about the hype surrounding Dybantsa. “He’s a great player, just what he did for Boston. … He deserved the homecoming, too.”
That praise wasn’t necessarily shared by a raucous UConn crowd, especially during the first 20 minutes of action.
While his attacking play worked in the first half, Dybantsa was subjected to mockery of ‘overrated!’ as his shots continued to clatter off the rim.
All it took was a few successful jumpers early in the second half to help the explosive forward get into a rhythm. As Dybantsa’s shots started falling from both mid-range and beyond the arc, what was once a 20-point lead for the Huskies began to erode as Dybantsa’s confidence grew.
Even though he didn’t shred UConn in transition, Dybantsa used his strong frame to drive to the rim in crunch time, drawing fouls and finishing through contact.
With Celtics Jaylen Brown and Derrick White on the rise, Dybantsa and the Cougars cut the lead all the way to two points with less than 30 seconds left.
But when he had a chance to take the lead, BYU’s Robert Wright III lost the ball, while Silas Demary Jr. of UConn recovered the turnover and extinguished any hope of a Cougars comeback.
Despite the setback for Dybantsa and BYU, Hurley expressed high praise for the future NBA star, whose stock is expected to continue rising this season.
“Just the growth and his approach,” Hurley said of what stood out about Dybantsa. “Sometimes you look at these kids, they come to college, these high selections, and it’s been years and years and years. You can see on film – the entitlement, the spoiled entitlement, the not guarding, not being about the team. [his] evolution from game to game until tonight.
“I mean, this guy is guarding, he’s on the board, he’s communicating with his teammates and he’s playing with a certain amount of desperation to win the game.
“For a guy who might be number one, it’s kind of refreshing to see this guy and the mental toughness. I mean, his first half was a mess, and for him to be able to put that behind him at home and put on that performance in the second half was as good as you’re going to see from a freshman.”
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