UCLA’s signature defense will be tested when No. 7-seed Bruins takes No. 10 Utah State in the first round of matchup of the NCAA tournament’s Midwest region on Thursday in Lexington, KY.
Bruins (22-10) is College Basketball’s most decorated program with 11 national championships and returns to March Madness after missing the field a season ago.
“That’s why I came to Ucla,” Bruins said forward Tyler Bilodeau.
Bilodeau is UCLA’s leading goal scorer of 13.6 points per match after he transferred from Oregon State last season. And while he has emerged as a team leader, his late seasonal consequences, with an abundance of forced pictures, have been widespread.
Forward is part of a contingent of UCLA newcomers who have played key roles in Bruins resuscitation. Fellow Transfers Eric Dailey Jr. (11.6 points, 4.1 returns), Skyy Clark (8.0 points, 2.8 assists) and Kobe Johnson (8.1 points, 5.9 returns, 3.0 assists) join BiloDeau in the start rotation for a team that initially looked like a deep march.
“I came here to win, to go deep in the tournament. So the fact that we finally here, we will do our best to take the chance,” Clark said.
UCLA climbed as high as No. 15 in the AP Top 25 survey during its first regular season in Big Ten and had won 11 of 14 matches before an 86-70 loss Friday to Wisconsin in the quarter final in the conference tournament.
Bruins, which indicate many Mick-Cronin-coached teams, enjoy aggressive defense. Their 65.7 points per match return ranked 27th among all Division I programs, and they used one of the best turnover-generating systems in the country.
UCLA is average takeaways of 22.8 percent of opponents’ possessions per kenpom.com measurement values, making it the seventh most efficient turnover supply. Johnson leads the team with 1.7 steal per match while Clark (1.3) and Dailey (1.3) follow.
Utah State (26-7) is on average only 10.7 sales per match while he runs his 80.9 points per game production with one of the most selfless offensive styles in the tournament.
Aggies ranked no. The guards Drake Allen (3.9 assists), Mason Falslev (3.7) and Ian Martinez (2.7) lead the road with ball distribution.
Martinez also sets the points speed for Utah State at 16.8 points, while Falslev adds 14.9. The duo combined to average 3.9 made 3 points per match.
Dexter Akanno-Bilodeau’s former teammate in Oregon State-gers to an additional 1.5 made 3-points per match at 43.9 percent shooting from a distance.
Utah State’s productive crime carried the Aggies to a third place in the Mountain West conference. However, after a loss of conference tournament to any winner Colorado State, Martinez said that he was nervous for Utah State placement in the field that entered the selection on Sunday.
“They took a little too long,” Martinez said of the wait until Utah State Matchup was announced. “But I like the matchup. That’s the time we play for.”
Utah State is looking for a first victory for the second straight tournament after rolling past TCU last year 88-72. The aggies lost in the second round of any national runner Purdue.
-Field level media
