It’s a late one.
The Tennessee Volunteers are looking to make another Sweet 16 tonight, and standing in their way are the UCLA Bruins. Mick Cronin’s squad blew out Utah State on Thursday night, advancing to the round of 32. Tennessee took care of Wofford, thanks to Chaz Lanier’s 29 points.
The two tough, defensive-minded teams will now square off in Lexington. It will be the final game of the Saturday slate, tipping off at 9:40 p.m. ET. UCLA ranks 19th overall in KenPom and 15th defensively. They’ll matchup with Tennessee’s third-ranked defense, creating a potential rock fight tonight.
“They understand that you can impact a game on the defensive end of the court,” Mick Cronin said of Tennessee guard Zakai Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack. “And, secondly, they’re tremendous guarding the ball and they take a lot of pride in it. That takes toughness combined with their athleticism, obviously with Zakai, his quickness, with Jahmai, his toughness, his athleticism, he’s got long arms. I would have tried to sign (Mashack), we didn’t have a spot back when he was coming out.”
UCLA dropped four straight Big Ten games back in January before Cronin called his team “soft” and manufactured a turnaround. The Bruins proceeded to rip off seven straight, jumping back onto the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble. They ended up landing a No. 7 seed, and you saw their potential on display on Thursday night.
How to watch Tennessee vs. UCLA
Location: Lexington, Kentucky
Time: 9:40 p.m. ET
TV Channel: TBS
Streaming: NCAA.com
Odds: Tennessee -5.5