2013-14 season review

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2013-14 Season Review

During the 2013-14 season, BYU basketball won 20 games for the ninth-consecutive year and received an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament as a No. 10 seed.

The Cougars finished 23-12 overall and 13-5 in West Coast Conference play. After finishing second in the WCC and advancing to the WCC tournament final, the Cougars were selected to the NCAA tournament for the seventh time in the past eight years and made their ninth straight trip to the postseason.

Junior guard Tyler Haws led the team in scoring throughout the season. His 23.2 points per game was good for sixth in the nation and also moved him into the top five in career points at BYU. Against Portland, Haws scored 48 points through regulation and three overtime periods. It was the third most points scored in a game in BYU history. Haws was named AP All-America Honorable Mention, the WCC Player of the Year, the All-WCC First Team, WCC All-Tournament, USBWA All-District and NABC All-District First Team.

Kyle Collinsworth returned from a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Russia to play in 34 games before tearing his ACL in the WCC tournament final against Gonzaga. Collinsworth averaged 14 points per game and was top 100 in the nation in assists (83rd, 4.6), steals (89th, 1.7) and rebounds (86th, 8.1). Collinsworth took over point guard duties halfway through the season and was named to the All-WCC First Team and the WCC All-Tournament Team.

Freshman center Eric Mika began his college career with a record-setting season. Mika grabbed the most offensive rebounds in a season in BYU history. His 11.8 points per game and 6.4 rebounds combined to put him in the top five of seven different freshman season records. Mika was named to the WCC All-Freshman Team.

Matt Carlino averaged 13.7 points, 4.3 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.7 steals and was named All-WCC Honorable Mention. He moved into the top 10 in career 3-pointers made and attempts, steals and assists and finished 27th in points.

Nate Austin averaged 7.9 rebounds per game to go with 3.8 points. He grabbed the third most offensive rebounds in a season at BYU and was the only Cougar to start every game.

BYU played the fourth toughest non-conference schedule in the country which included games against NCAA tournament teams Weber State, Stanford, Iowa State, Texas, Wichita State, UMass and Oregon. The Cougars won four-consecutive games or more four times this season.

BYU started with a four-game win streak over Weber State, Stanford, Mount St. Mary’s and Colorado Mesa. After losing four straight in December, the Cougars rolled off five straight wins against San Diego, Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount, San Francisco and Santa Clara.

Victories over Pacific, Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara and San Francisco were followed by a hiccup to Pacific on the road before the Cougars closed out the regular season winning four games, plus two more in the WCC tournament.

Entering the season BYU hadn’t played an overtime game since 2011. The Cougars needed extra time on three separate occasions and beat San Francisco in overtime in the WCC tournament.