Salt Lake City, Utah: No. 25 BYU Beats Ohio State 94-83 as Wright Scores 33

No. 25 BYU opened its season on Monday night with a 94-83 win over Ohio State at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Cougars drove a little more than 40 miles from their campus in Provo to a neutral site that felt like a home game, fell behind by three at halftime, then took the game over after the break.

Wright leads a second half surge

Robert Wright III scored 33 points on 9 of 15 shooting to lead five BYU players in double figures. Collin Chandler and Tyler Betsey scored 15 points each, Bruce Branch III scored 12 and Jaxon Kohler added 11. Wright had 14 points in the first half and kept attacking the rim as BYU pulled away.

Ohio State led 37-34 at halftime. BYU answered by scoring 60 points in the second half on 20 of 29 shooting, a 69 percent clip. The Cougars blew the game open with a long run midway through the half, stretched the lead to 73-61 at the end of a 14-2 run, and scored on eight straight possessions at one point while Ohio State could not get a stop.

Ohio State loses an opener for the first time since 2003

Amare Bynum led Ohio State with 20 points. John Mobley Jr. scored 14, Andrija Jelavic scored 13 and Justin Pippen added 12. Pippen picked up his fourth foul with 13 minutes left and Ohio State tied at 52, and the Buckeyes never regained control after that.

The loss was Ohio State's first in a season opener since 2003. Both teams retooled after first round exits in last season's NCAA Tournament, when BYU won 23 games and Ohio State won 21. BYU is replacing AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards, while Ohio State moves on without Bruce Thornton, the program's all time leading scorer after four seasons as a starter.

Ohio State returns home to face Youngstown State on Friday. For BYU, a ranked win over a Big Ten opponent on opening night in front of a home state crowd is the start the Cougars wanted, with Wright setting the tone at point guard.

The game was played on the Delta Center floor, the home of the NBA's Utah Jazz, and tipped at 9 p.m. Eastern on FS1 as one of the featured games of college basketball's opening night. For Salt Lake City fans, it was a rare chance to see a ranked Utah program face a Big Ten name at home on the first night of the season, and the pro BYU crowd treated the neutral site like a home court from the opening tip.