By Curran McCauley
On the eve of the NCAA’s First Four, the BYU Cougars arrived at Dayton Arena to prepare for a matchup against the SEC’s Ole Miss Rebels (9:10 pm ET, TruTV). Ole Miss (20-12, 11-7 SEC) joins Brigham Young as one of the “last four in” after being upset in the SEC tournament second round by South Carolina.
Ole Miss is one of the teams to take Kentucky to the wire this season, falling 89-86 in OT to the Wildcats back on Jan. 6 at Lexington’s Rupp Arena. Ole Miss is no stranger to Dayton, having played in Dayton against the host Flyers back on Dec. 30, falling 75-65. Stefan Moody of the Rebels noted that familiarity with the building could be a factor in the contest.
“The fact that we’ve been here before we kind of have a feel for the building and the arena,” Moody said during Monday’s press conference at the University of Dayton Arena.
BYU’s Anson Winder and Josh Sharp also played in Dayton during the 2012 tournament, part of a Cougars squad that came roaring back from 25 points to beat the Iona Gaels, setting a record for largest comeback in March Madness history in the process.
Despite the flair for dramatics during that 2012 game, in which the Cougars were seeded on the 14 line, Haws hopes to avoid a repeat.
“They had the greatest comeback in NCAA history,” Haws said recalling the Cougars 78-72 victory over Iona. “But I don’t think we want to get into that type of a situation again. But they said it’s a fun atmosphere, fun court to play on, and we’re excited.”
Head Coach Dave Rose, in his tenth season at the helm of the program and embarking on his eighth trip to the NCAA tournament, echoed the sentiments of his senior and BYU’s career scoring leader when asked if the arena had any BYU “mojo” left over from the 2012 tournament.
“I hope it’s the second-half mojo and not the first half. Because we were really struggling to find ourselves in the first half of that game,” noted Rose.
All discussions of mojo aside, BYU will rely heavily on the talents of junior guard Kyle Collinsworth to get past Mississippi and into a matchup with No. 6 seed Xavier. The NCAA’s single-season and career record holder for triple-doubles missed last year’s tournament with a knee injury sustained in the WCC championship loss to Gonzaga.
Rose believes that just having Collinsworth as part of the active roster for the First Four will be a huge step forward from last year.
He told a group of reporters, “I had a few people ask me, well, why don’t you kind of — how do you feel walking out of the arena this year compared to walking out of the arena last year, with the same result? And I just said, I feel a lot better because Kyle walked out of the arena this year and he wasn’t wheeled out in a wheelchair.”
Noting the mystique of the NCAA Tournament, Rose “That is a special thing for him to be able to have that huge disappointment and then be able to lead his team back and get the opportunity.”
What an opportunity it will be for Collinsworth and the Cougars to represent the West Coast Conference on the national stage, beginning in Dayton on Tuesday evening.
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