PROVO — Down a pair of starters in Arizona’s Koa Peat and BYU’s Richie Saunders, it was the Wildcats’ bench who came up big Wednesday night.

The Cougars? Not so much.

Anthony Dell’Orso scored a season-high 22 points, and Ivan Kharchenkov added 18 points and seven rebounds as No. 4 Arizona snapped a two-game losing skid with a 75-68 win over BYU at the McKay Center in Tucson, Arizona.

Jaden Bradley added 12 points and 10 assists for the Wildcats (24-2, 11-2 Big 12), who got 11 points from Brayden Burries and outscored the Cougars’ bench 26-6.

AJ Dybantsa poured in a game-high 35 points, seven rebounds and two assists to lead BYU (19-7, 7-6 Big 12); and Robert Wright III scored 13 with four rebounds and three assists.

Kennard Davis Jr. had 10 points, two rebounds and two assists, while Keba Keita pulled down nine boards for the Cougars.

Dybantsa set the BYU freshman scoring record, moving ahead of Danny Ainge’s 632 points while averaging 21.2 points in 1977-78.

But when it came to finding answers from an increasingly shortened rotation, BYU coach Kevin Young was at a loss.

In short, absent Richie Saunders after the senior suffered a season-ending ACL injury in the first minute of last Saturday’s overtime win over Colorado, the Cougars need to answer the bell.

Dell’Orso rang it for them.

Dell’Orso scored 15 points off the bench including a pair of 3-pointers in the first half to help the Wildcats lead by as much as 39-33 just before the break.

Dybantsa totaled 16 points, three rebounds and two assists, and Wright scored 11 to help the Cougars pull within four.

But Dell’Orso capped his 5-of-9 shooting first half with his third 3-pointer at the buzzer to help the Wildcats to a 42-35 halftime lead.

“Richie brings a lot of scoring, a lot of aggressiveness,” Dybantsa said after the game. “So I just tried to mimic what he gave us and try to do what he does.”

BYU made just 3-of-10 from the field to open the second half, and Arizona shot up to 57% to take a 13-point lead on Kharchenkov’s jumper eight minutes in.

Dybantsa had 19 points in the second half, including a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to seven, 73-66, with two minutes remaining. Davis capped a 7-0 run in just over 90 seconds to pull the Cougars within 73-68 in the final minute.

But Dell’Orso punctuated Arizona’s win with an open dunk off a turnover to give the home team a win in the series for the first time in five tries.

“We’ve just got competitive guys. I think we have a lot of belief in ourselves, no matter what situation we find ourselves in,” Young said. “And that was the case tonight against a really good basketball team.

“You have to give them a lot of credit, because they had a lot of guys who stepped up.”

BYU basketball goes on the road for a rematch opportunity against one of the top teams in the country.

The Cougars are gearing up to face the No. 4 Arizona Wildcats on Wednesday night at the McKale Center in Tucson.

It will be the first game this season where No. 23 BYU will be without star guard Richie Saunders.

Saunders suffered a season-ending ACL injury in BYU’s overtime win over Colorado this past Saturday.

It’s a significant loss, as Saunders was the 10th-leading scorer in the Big 12 Conference this season, averaging 18 points per game.

BYU still has stars AJ Dybantsa and Rob Wright III to carry the workload, but they will need the supporting cast to step up.

Their first crack at life without Saunders will be against Arizona, which, like BYU, will be without one of its top players on Wednesday night.

Freshman Koa Peat is out with a muscle strain in his lower leg area. He sustained the injury in last Saturday’s loss to Texas Tech.

Koa Peat has a muscle strain in his lower leg area. He will be re-evaluated next week and will return to the court when cleared by the medical staff.

Dwayne Aristode (illness) will also not be available Wednesday against BYU.

— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) February 18, 2026

Arizona will also be without Dwayne Aristode, who is battling an illness. That significantly shrinks Arizona’s bench, reducing it to a six-man rotation.

Arizona has dropped its past two games. The Wildcats have not lost three consecutive games in the Tommy Lloyd era (since 2021).

BYU enters the game with a 19-6 overall record, and 7-5 mark in Big 12 play.

BYU basketball availability report against No. 4 Arizona

OUT

• #4 Brody Kozlowski
• #10 KJ Perry (redshirting)
• #12 Nate Pickens
• #15 Richie Saunders
• #25 Dawson Baker
• #33 Xavion Staton

Arizona Wildcats report

OUT

• #2 Dwayne Aristode
• #10 Koa Peat

No. 23 BYU at No. 4 Arizona

Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Tip-off: 7 p.m. (MST)

TV: ESPN

Radio: KSL NewsRadio (102.7 FM, 1160 AM)

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast daily on KSL Sports YouTube and KSL NewsRadio (SUBSCRIBE). Harper also co-hosts Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL NewsRadio.

Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU athletics in the Big 12 Conference on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram: @Mitch_Harper.

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