College basketball fans tuned into the BYU-Kansas matchup on Saturday afternoon to see the battle of the projected top draft picks. BYU forward AJ Dybantsa and Kansas guard Darryn Peterson have toggled the 2026 No. 1 pick.

It's hard to imagine that there was a point in time when both were potential Wildcats. Dybantsa visited Manhattan, KS, in August of 2024, when Kansas State was one of his seven final schools, along with Alabama, North Carolina, and Baylor.

Wildcats coach Jerome Tang reflected on seeing Dybantsa in Kansas State's first Big 12 matchup against BYU.

"I've been watching AJ since he was in the seventh grade," Tang said in his BYU postgame interview. "I love him and his family, and I had a great time recruiting him. I've watched his games this season, and he's been one of the most efficient players, and tonight he was again. I thought PJ [Haggerty] was really efficient too. So that's two really good players out there, and they probably match their stat lines, and it was just one of those things."

Meanwhile, Peterson visited the program a month later than Dybantsa. He narrowed his final schools down to Kansas, Ohio State, USC, and Kansas State. The highly-touted prospect ultimately chose the Jayhawks in November of 2024.

In this matchup of the top two 2026 prospects, Peterson dominated in the first half against BYU, finishing the game with 18 points after not really seeing any second-half action. Dybantsa had just 17 points, one of his lowest scoring performances of the season. The two stars took the back seats to Bryson Tiller and Richie Saunders, the players of the night in the highly anticipated battle.

Meanwhile, the Wildcats have their own games to worry about as they try to dig themselves out of the conference basement.

Here are the details for the Wildcats' home matchup against No. 8 Iowa State:

Game time: Feb. 1, 2:00 p.m. EST

Where: Bramlage Coliseum, Manhattan, KS

TV: FOX Sports

G PJ Haggerty: 23.0 PTS, 5.2 REB, 4.4 AST

G David Castillo: 11.8 PTS, 2.4 REB, 2.0 AST

G Nate Johnson: 11.4 PTS, 5.0 REB, 4.1 AST

G Taj Manning: 3.6 PTS, 4.4 REB, 0.7 STL

C Dorin Buca: 3.4 PTS, 3.7 REB, 1.5 BLK

SCORING OFFENSE: 82.7 POINTS/GAME (8th in Big 12)

SCORING DEFENSE: 79.5 POINTS/GAME (13th in Big 12)

TEAM 3-POINT SHOOTING: 37.1% (4th in Big 12)

OPPONENT 3-POINT SHOOTING: 32.0% (6th in Big 12)

REBOUNDING: 36.0 REBOUNDS/GAME (11th in Big 12)

OPPONENT REBOUNDING: 36.0 REBOUNDS/GAME (15th in Big 12)