2014 NCAA Tournament Recap: BYU Goes Cold in Loss to Oregon

You would think we would learn from past mistakes in the NCAA Tournament, falling for teams that require shooters to be on game after game in order to advance.

You would think that would have kept us away from BYU. You would think that would have been reinforced after Kyle Collinsworth was lost for the year after injuring his knee against Gonzaga. You would think that after all this time, we would know better.

But we don't, and we want to believe that the Cougars would overcome that. This was one of the best backcourts in the country before the injury, and continued to be one even without Collinsworth.

But shooters go cold, especially when they go into an arena where they only have a small amount of time to prepare. And BYU did not like Milwaukee one bit.

During the season, BYU shot 37.3 percent from 3-point range. Against the Oregon defense, they went just 5-for-19. The same was true inside the line, and even worse. BYU shot just 35.7 percent, down from nearly 50 percent during the regular season.

Credit Oregon's defense which didn't let any of the Cougar players rest for a minute, and forced them to adjust on almost every shot. But also know that this BYU team didn't look right shooting the ball. Shots that looked routine for them just wouldn't fall.

And on defense, there was no answer for Elgin Cook, who had 23 points off the bench, missing just a single shot from the floor.

When Matt Carlino helped to cap a BYU run in the second half with a 3-pointer that cut the Oregon lead to just three, Cook was there to convert a big three-point play. That ignited the Ducks who had an 11-2 run over the next two minutes that shut down any hope for the Cougars.

Tyler Haws led the way for BYU with 19 points, but shot just 7-for-18 from the floor. Carlino was 4-for-16 on his way to a hard 15 points. And Eric Mika added 15, mostly coming at the free throw line where he went 11-for-16, after he was neutralized inside by the the Oregon big men.