BYU Cougars are in serious trouble. They opened the season with a perfect 3-0 start, but the momentum is slipping. First, they faced No. 3 UConn without forward Kennard Davis Jr. Then, they lost another key piece in Keba Keita. And to make matters worse, the game itself ended in an 86-84 loss. Now, as they move forward, fans are left wondering: Will the setbacks stop before they face the Badgers?

Well, Kevin Young finally offered some clarity. “Obviously, anything that deals with medical, whatever the medical people say, I do,” Young said of Keita. “I feel I’ve gotten good feedback in terms of he is doing better, but at the same time, he’s currently still out. So it’s more positive than it’s not, but the situation that he’s in is more of a day-to-day type thing.” Thankfully, the feedback is indeed positive.

Keita took a tough hit to his head and shoulder after bumping into Huskies guard Silas Demary Jr. while they were both going after a loose ball. With 8:51 left in the first half, he had to be helped off the court and was taken to the locker room with a trainer. After logging in for just eight minutes, Jeff Borzello confirmed by halftime that the forward was officially ruled out for the rest of the game.

“It was determined pretty quickly that he was not going to return,” Young said. So, given the tension among fans, this update comes as a relief, especially since Keita is a critical piece of the Cougars’ roster. Since arriving from Utah in 2024, Keita has basically lived in BYU’s starting lineup, 39 starts in 40 games, and has been their defensive anchor. In the season opener against Villanova, he set the tone right away with 8 points, 7 boards, and 3 blocks.

But the numbers hardly tell the story. He set the tone early. First by soaring for an alley-oop from Dybantsa, then by cleaning up a miss with a one-handed put-back, and later by rejecting a Villanova attempt so cleanly it almost stunned the arena. “He’s a presence and a force and an anchor,” Young said after the game. So far this season, Keita is averaging 6.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks. So, losing him-even briefly-is a significant setback for BYU.

Even with him on the floor, BYU was having a hard time keeping UConn big man Tarris Reed Jr. in check. And once Keita went out, the problem only got louder. Reed scored seven points in the next 7:45 and ended the night with 21 points and eight rebounds.

Will the next game become a major test for the Cougars?

Wisconsin enters the matchup with a 4-0 start to the 2025–26 season, now preparing for a highly anticipated game against No. 9 BYU. On paper, it seems like just another matchup, but history says otherwise. These two teams clashed in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament this past March in one of the most intense games of the tournament.

It was when BYU pulled out a 91-89 win. But even the Badgers were no less; they nearly erased an 11-point halftime deficit. Their star transfer guard, John Tonje, exploded for 37 points and sparked the Badgers’ furious second-half run. And, even this season, they’re dominant.

Badgers are averaging 93.3 points per game while holding opponents to 65. Meanwhile, BYU averages 84.5 points with 68.3 opponent PPG. ESPN still favors BYU to win with a 63.4% chance. But with the current setbacks, the question remains: Can the Cougars withstand the storm and deliver when it matters most?