Robert Wright III Scores 33 as No. 25 BYU Rallies Past Ohio State 94-83

For about 20 minutes, Ohio State had the better team on the floor. Then Robert Wright III decided the second half was his. The preseason All-American scored 33 points, BYU shot 69 percent after halftime, and the No. 25 Cougars turned a three-point halftime deficit into a 94-83 win over Ohio State on Monday night at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

The season opener, played as the Bad Boy Mowers Classic, gave BYU its eighth straight win in an opener and handed Ohio State its first opening-night loss since 2003. Five Cougars scored in double figures. Collin Chandler and Tyler Betsey added 15 apiece, Bruce Branch III had 12 and Jaxon Kohler had 11 with six rebounds. BYU is 1-0, and Ohio State is 0-1.

This was not a buy game dressed up as a showcase. Both programs reached the NCAA Tournament last March, BYU after a 23-win season and Ohio State after winning 21, and both went home in the first round. Each spent the offseason replacing a cornerstone. BYU lost AJ Dybantsa to the NBA, and Ohio State moved on from Bruce Thornton, who finished last season as the program's all-time leading scorer. Opening night in Salt Lake City was a first look at two retooled rosters, and for a half it looked like the Buckeyes had done the better job.

Stuck in the Mud

The first half belonged to the Buckeyes. Jake Diebler's team came out sharp, opening with an eight-point burst for a 13-5 lead, and later an 11-3 run pushed the margin to 24-13 with 8:32 left in the half. Ohio State shot 53.8 percent before the break and made 6 of 12 threes. BYU, meanwhile, could not buy a basket early. The Cougars made just three of their first 13 shots and one of their first eight threes.

Kevin Young did not sugarcoat it afterward. "I thought in the first half they put us in mud a little bit, particularly the first five or six minutes," the BYU coach said, per the school's official recap (opens in a new tab).

What kept BYU in it was Wright. Trailing by 11 twice, the Cougars leaned on their point guard, who scored 10 points in about an eight-minute stretch and finished the half with 14. The last word before the break went back and forth: Justin Pippen hit a three with 11 seconds left, and Nate Pickens answered from the left corner with three seconds to go. Ohio State led 37-34, and that Pickens shot felt like a door left open.

The Wright Half

BYU walked through it immediately. The Cougars scored on four straight possessions to start the second half, capped by a Wright corner three off an offensive rebound that gave BYU its first lead of the night. Kohler followed with a three-point play for a 50-43 cushion, but Ohio State would not go away. John Mobley Jr. scored on a layup to put the Buckeyes back in front 57-55, and the game was tied 59-59 near the midway point of the half.

That tie was the turning point. From there, BYU ripped off a 14-2 run that decided the night. Kohler was the engine early, with Betsey's three, two Kohler free throws and a Kohler layup making it 66-59 with 9:30 to go. Kohler then slipped behind the defense for a reverse layup on a backdoor cut, Wright buried another three, and BYU led 73-61 with 7:24 left.

Wright's final line was exactly what a preseason All-American is supposed to produce: 33 points on 9-of-15 shooting, 4-of-5 from three, 11-of-12 at the line, five assists and one turnover in 34 minutes. Nineteen of those points came after halftime, according to the Deseret News, including all four of his made threes. Wright, back in Provo for another season after transferring in from Baylor, showed on Monday that he can carry the scoring load whenever BYU needs it.

Fouls, Free Throws and a Six-Minute Drought

Ohio State's comeback hopes took a hit when Mobley fouled out with 4:48 left and the Buckeyes trailing by six. Mobley finished with 14 points and seven assists, and losing Mobley took away Ohio State's best creator off the bounce. Pippen followed Mobley to the bench with a fifth foul at 2:12, BYU up eight.

The bigger problem was the stretch before that. After the Buckeyes made 12 of 14 shots during one second-half stretch, BYU's defense found a gear and held them without a field goal for nearly six minutes late. On the other end, the Cougars made 12 of their last 14 shots, per the Deseret News. That is how a game tied at 59 becomes an 11-point final.

Amare Bynum led Ohio State with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting, and Andrija Jelavic added 13 points and nine rebounds. The Buckeyes did plenty right: they shot 49 percent, made 18 of 19 free throws and scored 38 points in the paint. They just could not survive BYU's second half.

By the Numbers

The final team shooting tells the story. BYU went 31-of-57 from the field, 54 percent, and 11-of-24 from three after that brutal start. In the second half, the Cougars shot 69 percent from the floor and made 7 of 10 threes. Ohio State finished 28-of-57 and 9-of-28 from deep, cooling off considerably after its hot first half.

Ball security was the other separator. BYU committed only eight turnovers in a game the Deseret News counted at 67 possessions, while forcing 12 Ohio State giveaways and turning them into 11 points. The Buckeyes actually won the rebounding battle 31-30, so this was not about size. It was about shot quality and finishing. The Deseret News had BYU at 1.4 points per possession for the game and 1.8 after halftime, which is the kind of second-half efficiency that turns any deficit into a lead in a hurry. Young said the defense showed more good than bad, a fair grade for a group that gave up 83 but got the stops it needed when the game was decided.

"I think we just played to our identity," Young said. The identity, at least on night one, looks like an offense built around Wright, with shooters spacing the floor and Kohler working inside.

What It Means

For BYU, this was a statement that life after Dybantsa, the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, does not have to be a rebuild. Wright is back as the alpha, Chandler and Betsey give the Cougars real shooting on the wings, and Kohler remains a reliable interior presence. Young earned his 50th career win and stayed perfect in season debuts at BYU, and it was the first time five Cougars scored in double figures since a win over Cal Baptist last December. The defense is still a work in progress after allowing a 53.8 percent first half, but the offense looks like it can carry a top-25 team.

For Ohio State, the loss stings mostly because of the first half. The Buckeyes looked ready to win a neutral-site game in BYU's backyard against a ranked team, and Bynum looks like a real breakout candidate in the post-Thornton era. But foul trouble on Mobley and Pippen and a six-minute scoring drought exposed how thin the margin is without a proven closer.

BYU opens Marriott Center play against Omaha on Friday, Nov. 6. Ohio State hosts Youngstown State the same night.

Box scores: BYU Athletics official box score (opens in a new tab) and ESPN box score (opens in a new tab).

Sources: BYU Athletics, ESPN, Associated Press, Field Level Media, Deseret News. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Ohio State played well enough to win a half. BYU played well enough to win a game, and that difference came down to Wright, a 14-2 run and 20 minutes of offense that should scare a lot of Big 12 defenses this winter.

Photo: BYU Athletics.