How is Kevin Young preparing BYU to follow last year’s Sweet 16 run?

PORTLAND — When BYU faces Texas on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Portland’s Moda Center hardwood will be the fourth different NBA court the Cougars have played on this season.

Trips to such venues — in addition to games in Las Vegas, Walt Disney World, national television primetime windows and other high-exposure showcase settings — serve as one example of the significant spotlight BYU has lived in all year long.

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Portland will offer the brightest lights of all — those of the Big Dance, where the Cougars are looking to follow last year’s Sweet 16 appearance with another memorable run.

Thanks to its tangles with adversity and the grinding Big 12 gauntlet, BYU is certainly battle-tested. But Kevin Young’s crew is also far from starstruck regarding the stage and stakes of March.

“I think there’s just comfort in the known, you know? I guess part of the reason why we want to play in those games, just to give the guys the experience of playing in NBA arenas, playing in showcase type events where everybody’s watching and talking about you,” Young told reporters Wednesday.

“It’s not something that we have to get used to already, I think our guys have a comfort level.

“That’s the beauty about guys like AJ (Dybantsa) and Rob (Wright III). Obviously, this is March Madness, it’s a one-of-a-kind event. But those two guys in particular have been playing in big events their whole life, I think they’re accustomed to it.”

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While Young enters this postseason with a pair of tournament wins from last year under his belt, the former NBA assistant coach says he’s continuing to lean on lessons learned during his time in the league to lead BYU’s current survive-and-advance effort.

“Similar to the NBA playoffs, you really just have to focus on what’s in front of you,” Young said of his tournament mentality. “I think that’s the biggest and number one thing for me, just focusing on the task at hand and not worrying about what’s to come. That cost me, in my NBA life, I think a playoff series or two, where we were looking too far down the road … I think just a constant level of focus on the task at hand is super important.”

BYU rides into Portland having recaptured some solid momentum in the past 11 days, first toppling No. 10 Texas Tech in the regular season finale and then offering an encouraging 3-game stretch in the Big 12 tournament.

“I thought the Texas Tech game was that (turnaround) moment, it gave us a lot of confidence going into the Big 12 tournament,” Young said. “I think the thing I liked the most about the Big 12 tournament was on the first night (against Kansas State) we broke the tournament record for points in a game. The next night (against West Virginia) we had our best defensive performance of the season. In the night after that (against Houston), we’re in a three-point game in crunch time against a Final Four-contending team. I think there’s a lot of things that gave our guys confidence.

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“I don’t really have to say it, I know that they feel it, they feel confident. They understand why we were able to do those things. So it’s easy to replicate when you’re confident and why your season’s kind of turned around.”

As for BYU’s Thursday opponent, while Young doesn’t think the Texas’ style of play closely compares to any Big 12 team, he does believe players from around the Cougars’ conference have helped them ready for the challenge of defending individual Longhorns.

“The big fella (Texas center Matas Vokietaitis), he might as well be wearing an Arizona jersey in terms of how he plays,” Young said. “(Texas guard Jordan) Pope is a great shooter off the dribble, he reminds me a little bit of (Texas Tech’s Christian) Anderson just in terms of his shooting piece. I think (Texas guard Dailyn) Swain is a lot like AJ, to be honest with you, just a big wing that can do a little bit of everything.”

It hasn’t been the smoothest season for BYU, with injuries, inconsistency and other speed bumps appearing along the way.

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But out of the adversity has come the discovery of a new identity for the Cougars, one that Young feels will bode well in the Big Dance.

“The things they’ve sunken their teeth into are things that allow you to win in the postseason, which is defense, which is rebounding, which is playing together offensively,” Young said. “That’s what this group has found some success with, so those are the things that we’re trying to carry over into the tournament.”