Portland, Ore. • Kevin Young liked to talk about life after Richie Saunders as a new season, a new iteration of his beleaguered group.

When his program traveled cross country to West Virginia and Cincinnati in February, getting pounded twice without the injured veteran Saunders, Young decided to tear it all down.

He would rebuild an identity around star freshman AJ Dybantsa and an unproven supporting cast.

“The thing they’ve sunken their teeth into are things that allow you to win in the postseason,” Young said of the new-look Cougars. “Which is defense, which is rebounding, which is playing together offensively. That’s what this group’s found some success with.”

It worked for a bit, with a win over nationally ranked Texas Tech to show for it. BYU followed it up by taking two-seed Houston down to the wire to end the Big 12 tournament.

“Those are the things that we’re trying to carry over into the tournament,” Young said.

But when it mattered most, the patched up identity proved to be nothing more than a band-aid on a banged up roster.

The defense and rebounding went away in the Cougars’ opening round loss to No. 11 Texas, 79-71, on Thursday night.

It didn’t matter that Dybantsa had 35 points, or that Rob Wright III chipped in double-digits. It didn’t matter that the Cougars made two second-half surges to cut the Longhorns’ lead, including down to four with just a minute to play.

BYU couldn’t come up with enough stops, or really any stops, to keep Texas at bay.

The Longhorns kept going inside on a BYU team that couldn’t find an answer.

Matas Vokietaitis, a 7-footer from Lithuania, had 15 and 11 by halftime. He finished with 23 points and 16 rebounds, ending BYU’s last-second comeback with an offensive rebound and putback layup.

It wasn’t just him. Texas had 38 points in the paint and 16 second-chance points. It feasted inside with 10 more rebounds than BYU.

And if it wasn’t on the glass, the Longhorn offense had no trouble finding points.

Texas’ Dailyn Swain had 14 points and Tramon Mark added 19.

BYU couldn’t come up with enough offense around Dybantsa to keep up.

Even with Dybantsa scoring 20 points in the first half, the Cougars were still facing a nine-point deficit going into the half. BYU finished four-of-22 from three.

The loss ends Dybantsa’s All-American season, one of the few in BYU history. He could be the first pick in the NBA Draft this June. Those questions will be answered over the next few months.

But for now, a season that started with Final Four expectations ends before the first weekend had wrapped.