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Dayton, Ohio • Nobody on BYU's roster was happier about playing in an NCAA Tournament game on Tuesday night than Kyle Collinsworth, the 6-foot-6 point guard from Provo who had to miss last year's 87-68 loss to Oregon in the Big Dance. Collinsworth suffered a season-ending knee injury in the 2014 West Coast Conference tournament championship game and underwent ACL surgery two days before the Cougars lost badly in Milwaukee.
"Every day since that injury, I just wake up and I feel grateful that I get to play," Collinsworth said. "And when I go to sleep, I feel grateful that I am going to sleep without an injury. So every day I am just grateful that I get to play again and grateful I get to play in this tournament."
Tyler Haws said the versatile playmaker was sorely missed against the Ducks.
"Last year I think it kind of took the wind out of our sails a little bit, not having Kyle," Haws said Monday. "Kyle's just a huge part of our team and makes everyone better and you want to go to war with a guy like that."
Collinsworth said it was difficult to watch last year's game, but he learned something about the style of play that works best in the tournament.
"The teams that win in this tournament are the teams that play the most like themselves," he said.
Before his church mission to Russia, Collinsworth was a starter as a freshman on the BYU team that made it to the Sweet 16 with wins over Wofford and Gonzaga in Denver.
"That was awesome," he said of the experience in Denver and then New Orleans.
Kennedy's memories
Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy and BYU guard Haws share something in common. On Dec. 9, 1989, Kennedy played for an Alabama-Birmingham team that lost 98-82 to BYU in the Marriott Center.
Haws' father, Marty, played for the Cougars back then and told his son after the BYU-Ole Miss matchup was set that he remembered Kennedy's trip to Provo.
So it is pretty cool," Tyler Haws said.
Kennedy spoke about the game in Monday's news conference, but didn't remember it fondly.
"I remember it didn't end well for the old UAB Blazers. I do remember that," Kennedy said. "I remember his dad was a good player, very good player. His son is tremendous, tremendous. And they're similar. They're similar in their look, similar in their style of play. It was a long time ago in the late '80s. And it didn't end good for us."
Briefly
The Cougars entered Tuesday's game with a 15-31 overall record in the NCAA Tournament. … Coach Dave Rose was 4-7 in BYU's past seven NCAA appearances. … Haws entered the game with 2,687 career points, the most in BYU history and 23rd in NCAA history.
Twitter: @drewjay