Ace Dybantsa made a bet on his son’s team, and when Cincinnati made him pay, he walked onto the court and delivered without hesitation.
AJ Dybantsa’s Father, Ace, Recently Lost a Bet
When the Bearcats rolled BYU 90-68 on Senior Night at Fifth Third Arena on Tuesday, March 3, Ace Dybantsa had a debt to settle. He had made a friendly wager with former Cincinnati player Alex Meacham ahead of the game, and true to his word, Ace walked out onto the court after the final buzzer and knocked out 10 push-ups right there on the hardwood.
The moment went viral almost immediately, as Meacham shared the video and made sure the world knew exactly what had gone down.
My guy Ace Dybantsa is a man of his word! My Bearcats beat BYU and he came on the court to do his 10 pushups. His son AJ should be the #1 pick in the NBA Draft. They are really good people and I wish them nothing but the best. pic.twitter.com/xjHvFB4MWY
— Alex Meacham (@Alex_Meacham) March 4, 2026
“My guy Ace Dybantsa is a man of his word! My Bearcats beat BYU, and he came on the court to do his 10 pushups. His son, AJ, should be the #1 pick in the NBA Draft. They are really good people, and I wish them nothing but the best,” Meacham said.
After Ace finished the push-ups and got back to his feet, the two men shared a warm embrace on camera, the kind of hug that said the competition was real, but the respect between them was even more so.
His personality is larger than life, the kind of father who becomes a main character in his son’s story, not because he seeks the spotlight, but because he is simply that magnetic. He used push-ups as a disciplinary tool when AJ was growing up in Brockton, Massachusetts, to hold his son accountable when chores went undone or standards slipped.
As for what happened on the court, BYU had no answers for a fired-up Bearcats team playing its regular-season home finale with Senior Night energy fueling everything. Jalen Celestine and Jizzle James each scored 18 points for Cincinnati, while Baba Miller added 15 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists.
The Bearcats shot 50 percent from the field and converted 43.5 percent of their three-point attempts, putting together one of their best offensive performances of the season. They turned BYU’s 15 turnovers into 21 points, while the Cougars had just 2 fast-break points.
AJ Dybantsa led BYU with 23 points, but he needed 21 shots to get there and went 1-for-8 from three-point range. It was a tough night for the nation’s leading scorer, who averaged 24.8 points per game heading into the contest.
He turned the ball over five times in the first half alone and never quite found his footing against Cincinnati’s aggressive defensive schemes. Despite the loss, AJ’s draft stock remains firmly at the top of every major board. Most analysts continue to project him as the likely No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft ahead of Duke’s Cameron Boozer and Kansas’ Darryn Peterson.
BYU now heads into the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City needing to find something it has been missing for most of February, a consistent defensive identity and a supporting cast willing to help shoulder the load alongside Dybantsa.
