UCLA dominates Utah State to set up NCAA tournament showdown with Tennessee

Los Angeles Times

21-03-2025

LEXINGTON, Ky. — UCLA was trying to maintain a double-digit lead early in the second half when it suffered what looked like a devastating loss.
Sophomore center Aday Mara, who had been dominating Utah State on both ends of the court, rolled his left ankle and limped off the court, sitting on the end of the bench while trainer Tyler Lesher tended to his injury.
What did the Bruins do for the next few minutes with their biggest difference-maker sidelined in their NCAA tournament opener?
They rolled up an even bigger cushion.
Skyy Clark buried one three-pointer and Kobe Johnson followed a three-pointer from one corner with one from the other, kissing his fingers and raising them to the roaring crowd inside Rupp Arena.
There were even more encouraging developments to come for the Bruins. Mara put a support wrap on his ankle and returned before seventh-seeded UCLA closed out the 10th-seeded Aggies with relative ease, their 72-47 victory in a Midwest Region first-round game Thursday night not drawing any uncomfortable parallels to a bunch of late-game letdowns from earlier in the season.
The Bruins (23-10) will play second-seeded Tennessee in the second round on Sunday after getting some excellent guard to play to go with Mara's 10 points, six rebounds, five blocks and two assists in only 18 minutes.
Clark made four of seven three-pointers on the way to 14 points and Andrews added some lockdown defense on Utah State's Ian Martinez (two points on one-for-11 shooting) to go with his eight points and eight assists against only one turnover. Forward Eric Dailey Jr. finished with 12 of his 14 points in the second half.
Guard Mason Falslev tallied 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Aggies (26-8), who shot 30% to the Bruins' 48.1%
UCLA arrived here needing a palette cleanser from its blowout loss in the Big Ten tournament against Wisconsin, which Bruins coach Mick Cronin referred to as the Boston Celtics because of the Badgers' similar ability to make gobs of three-pointers.
Playing Utah State represented a do-over of sorts given the guard-heavy Aggies' love of long-range shots. The Bruins did a much better job of sticking with their man Thursday, holding Utah State to two of 17 from beyond the arc and four of 31 (12.9%) for the game.
Utah did not hide its game plan, coach Jerrod Calhoun and his players saying they wanted to get out in transition and play fast.
How would they counteract Mara without their own 7-footer? More speed.
'Luckily, he's not too heavy so we can fight that physically to some extent,' Utah State guard Ian Martinez said, 'but mostly with speed would be ideal to beat him.'
Calhoun almost sounded like he was preparing a concession speech in the event UCLA deployed a heavy dose of Mara, who had helped the Bruins win all nine games this season in which he played at least 15 minutes.
'One of the most talented young players in college basketball,' Calhoun said. 'You can see when he gets going in a game and he gets that swagger and that confidence, a lot of times it's easy baskets. He's one of the best lob threats we have in college basketball.
'Mick does a tremendous job of putting him in Spain actions, high pick and rolls. So your ball screen defense against him has to be really good. You got to do a tremendous job of playing physical. If he catches the ball in the block, you have no shot.'
Mara converted a couple of those catches into points while helping UCLA take a 39-27 halftime lead. He took one pass and spun around Aubin Gateretse for a dunk and took another for a jump hook.
His best stretch might have come when Johnson fed him for dunks on back-to-back possessions, the second assist leading Johnson to make a binoculars gesture with his hands. The Bruins had rolled off 12 consecutive points to take a 14-point lead and Utah State called timeout.
Mara's line by the game's midpoint was representative of his across-the-board value to his team. He had eight points on four-for-five shooting to go with three blocks, four rebounds and the game's best two assists thrown from the high post — a bounce pass to Clark for a dunk on a give and go as well as a pass to Lazar Stefanovic for a baseline jumper.
UCLA's halftime lead might have been insurmountable had the Bruins not given up 10 offensive rebounds leading to 14 points for Utah State — more than half the Aggies' total.
The Bruins' advantage would soon get there.