LAS VEGAS — For a few moments in the second half Monday night, it appeared that No. 8 BYU’s debut on the college basketball big stage was going to be a complete and utter bust, to use a phrase bandied about in this gambling town.

Heavily favored, the Cougars had blown a 14-point second half lead to a rebuilt Villanova squad picked to finish seventh in the Big East, and the massive crowd of pro-BYU fans at T-Mobile Arena was turning antsy.

That’s when BYU’s toughness took over, a toughness that, frankly, was not always there last year during the Cougars’ Sweet 16 run.

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Trailing by two with 6:28 remaining, the Cougars clamped down de

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