Excitement for BYU's most highly-anticipated basketball season in history may have reached its peak Thursday night.
It was flat-out physically obvious.
The line of BYU students waiting to get into the Marriott Center for the program's annual Marriott Madness pep rally stretched all the way back to the administration building on campus, with the outside of the arena crowded with fans beforehand and the lower bowl inside almost completely filled for the festivities.
"Just driving in, just seeing all the students kind of flooding the surroundings of the Marriott Center, it was cool," head coach Kevin Young said afterward.
"It just gets you excited for basketball season, just seeing the whole lower bowl all filled with students. It was great, man. Obviously, there's a lot of excitement around BYU athletics in general, and I'm glad that everyone could just see some of our guys tonight."
In the past, Marriott Madness has featured a number of games and gimmicks to pump fans up for the season. This year, however, the lasting nirvana of March's Sweet Sixteen run, the arrival of AJ Dybantsa and every other piece of good offseason news had already accomplished such a task.
Thus, Thursday's Marriott Madness was rather simple. It didn't need to be so elaborate — the hype was preexistent. Young's team didn't need an accompanying show, it was the show.
The night's simplicity didn't mean it was uneventful, though. Lee Cummard received a hearty chorus of cheers in his introduction as BYU's new women's basketball coach, as did his star player Delaney Gibb.
Additionally, Dybantsa got his hero's welcome, and the place went crazy for Richie Saunders.
Cummard and Young each addressed the crowd, challenging the ROC student section to continue its ascension into becoming known as one of the best in the country.
Following the coaches' remarks, the men and women's squads teamed up for a 3-point contest — Gibb and Tyler Mrus faced off against Saunders and Marya Hudgins.
Mrus and Gibb were initially declared the winners, but a late recount flipped the result in favor of Saunders and Hudgins, with Saunders having made 10 triples in a row to start the competition and finished with 12 makes out of 15 total.
The Marriott Madness portion of the evening only lasted about 30 minutes, with the players taking an hour intermission before beginning their Blue/White game.
The players split into two teams — Blue and White — to scrimmage against each other. They played one 12-minute half, shuffled the teams a bit and then played another eight minute period.
Long story short: BYU won.
Truthfully, the scrimmage featured a fair amount of ugly basketball, with 17 total turnovers and a collective field goal percentage of 34.7%. Not great.
But perhaps the sloppiness could just be chalked up to first game jitters or the intense competitiveness of playing teammates against other teammates.
Associate head coach Will Voigt, center right, coaches during BYU basketball's annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
Assistant Coach Chris Burgess warms up BYU basketball players before their annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
BYU basketball player Xavion Staton dunks the ball during their annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
BYU basketball player AJ Dybantsa jumps up to make a basket during their annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
BYU student Xavier Mitchell reacts during BYU basketball's annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
BYU basketball player Keba Keita smiles during warm ups before the annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
Associate head coach Will Voigt, left, speaks with head coach Kevin Young, right, during BYU basketball's annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
Head coach Kevin Young coaches during BYU basketball's annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
BYU basketball player Khadim Mboup smiles after the blue team won in BYU basketball's annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
BYU students cheer during BYU basketball's annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
BYU basketball players Tyler Mrus (2) and Dominique Diomande (24) go for the ball during their annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
Assistant coach Brandon Dunson coaches during BYU basketball's annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
Assistant Coach Chris Burgess, right, hugs BYU basketball player Khadim Mboup after the blue team won in BYU basketball's annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
BYU basketball player Richie Saunders (15) runs toward the basket with Mihailo Bošković (5) on defense during their annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
Assistant Coach Chris Burgess coaches BYU basketball players during their annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
BYU basketball player Xavion Staton, center, chest bumps Khadim Mboup, right, after the blue team won in BYU basketball's annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
Assistant Coach John Linehan warms up BYU basketball players before their annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
BYU basketball player AJ Dybantsa maintains possession of the ball during their annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
BYU basketball player Aleksej Kostić (6) dribbles the ball down the court during their annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
BYU basketball player Dominique Diomande runs for the ball during their annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
BYU students cheer during BYU basketball's annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
BYU basketball player Xavion Staton cheers from the sidelines during their annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
Aside from BYU's improved athleticism and length on the defensive end, it's difficult and somewhat pointless to draw any major conclusions from the action. We'll have a bit of a better grasp on this team after seeing the Cougars' exhibitions against Nebraska and North Carolina.
The first half saw the teams finish in a 24-24 tie. The second half came down to the wire, with the Blue team compromised of Mihailo Boskovic, Aleksej Kostic, Khadim Mboup, Dominique Diomande, Xavion Staton and Jared McGregor hanging on for a 20-17 win.
Rob Wright III, Nate Pickens, Dawson Baker and Brody Kozlowski were all held out of the scrimmage, though Young did say Wright was "pretty much clear for a full go" but was kept inactive in order to remain healthy for BYU's preseason contests.
In Wright's absence as a primary ball-handler was Dybantsa, who displayed smooth, competent playmaking ability with five assists on the night to pair with nine points.
"Super happy with AJ," Young said of his freshman superstar. "Love coaching him. He's very coachable. He does what we ask him to do. Tonight he had the ball in his hands a lot as a playmaker. I thought he got a little bit tired of doing that, but I mean, just the reads, man, it's high level stuff for a kid of his age ... I thought he generated a lot of really good looks.
"I've been on him basically about two things, making the right read and playing defense, and I think for stretches tonight, he did both those things really well."
Saunders led all scorers with 15 points, Kostic added 13 and Boskovic posted 12.
The surprise of the night, however, was Mboup, a redshirt freshman who joined the program midseason a year ago but has yet to appear in a regular season game for BYU.
The Senegal native scored 12 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out three assists, loudly introducing himself to Cougar Nation as a potential piece in Young's deep rotation.
"I was impressed with him tonight," Young said of Mboup. "He's a wild man, which sometimes is good and sometimes is bad, you know. He reminds me of my 10-year-old son in that respect, but I mean, he's a load.
"Super physical, you know, which bodes well in our league. He's put on 20 pounds of muscle since we got him. High motor guy, so he's definitely put his hand up and is making a case for himself. I really like what what he did tonight."
While the on-court product was far from perfect, Young did identify some positive takeaways from the scrimmage to build off of as BYU pivots from playing against each other to facing actual opponents.
"I thought tonight some of the stuff I saw was definitely a step the right direction," Young said. "I thought our activity defensively was really good. I think this team is a lot longer, a lot more athletic than the team we had last year, and so we're trying to be more aggressive defensively. I thought you saw that in spurts tonight.
"I'm hopeful that every team that is playing here under me is an unselfish team. I thought the ball was popping for the most part tonight. Not as much as I would have liked, and that's something that we'll be able to show them on the tape, but those are really the identity of what this team is going to be about."
BYU students cheer during BYU basketball's annual Blue-White Scrimmage at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News
