Breaking Down UCLA's First-Round Opponent

The UCLA Bruins (22-10) have earned a No. 7 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament and will face the No. 10 seed Utah State Aggies (26-7) in the first round. Here is everything you need to know about the Bruins' first opponent, their success this season, and standout scorers.

The Aggies hail from the Mountain West conference, finishing third in the regular season and falling to Colorado State in the conference tournament semifinals. This is a group that has a few impressive wins but has not played the toughest schedule outside of their conference opponents.

They finished the season 2-4 against Quad 1 opponents, defeating both Saint Mary's and then-No. 20 San Diego State, two fellow teams in the tournament. They were a 26-win team, finishing amongst the best in the conference, prompting a decision to give the Aggies a tournament bid.

UCLA will have to play stellar perimeter defense and bounce back from allowing 19 3-pointers to the Wisconsin Badgers in Big Ten tournament play. This Aggie team finished No. 1 in the Mountain West in field goal percentage (49%) and second in three-point percentage (36.5%).

Focusing on personnel, Utah State has two high-level scorers that have impressed all season. Senior guard Ian Martinez is the team's leading scorer at 16.8 points per game on 44.6% shooting. He has scored in double figures in all 33 games this season with a season-high of 32 points.

Martinez is a fifth-year senior in his second season with the Aggies. He started his collegiate career with the Utah Utes for one season before transferring to Maryland for the next two. He is a combined 0-3 against UCLA in his career with 29 total points scored.

The other star scorer is sophomore guard Mason Falslev. Having a career year so far, Falslev is averaging 14.9 points on 50.4% shooting and is the team's leading rebounder at 6.2 boards per contest. He is coming off a 22-point performance in the Aggies' conference tournament loss.

Both teams will be traveling cross-country for the first weekend of the tournament as the game will be held in Lexington, Kent. at Rupp Arena, home of the Kentucky Wildcats. Tip-off is set for 9:25 p.m. ET, giving both teams an advantage with mental clocks being on West Coast time.

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