LEXINGTON, Ky. — Tennessee's Round of 32 opponent is set.
The 2-seed Vols will square off with 7-seed UCLA on Saturday for a trip to the Sweet 16. This comes after the Bruins defeated 10-seed Utah State 72-47.
That game was played directly following Tennessee's 77-62 win over 15-seed Wofford.
Tip-off is set 9:40 p.m. ET on TBS or TruTV. The matchup will be played in Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.
TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE BRUINS
7-seed UCLA
- 22-10, 4th in Big Ten
- Net Rating: No. 27 (3rd best 7-seed)
- Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: No. 35
- Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: No. 17
- Adjusted Tempo: No. 301
- Leading Scorer: Tyler Bilodeau - 13.6 pts
- Leading Rebounder: Kobe Johnson - 5.9 reb
- Leading Assister: Dylan Andrews: 3.3 ast
How Tennessee is preparing
Tennessee won't be starting from scratch for its scout on UCLA. The Vols, on top of preparing for Wofford, also got scouts in for both the Bruins and Utah State.
Now, it's a period where Rick Barnes is hoping to get his team's bodies ready for another grueling battle while also installing a game plan.
"Before we came, obviously like every team here, we've already scouted everybody that we knew that we could possibly play against," Barnes said after beating the Terriers. "Now we got a day to get ready. It will be different. We don't do much physically because we were in a really physical game tonight. I think this game is going to be pretty physical, too, but the key is to get recovered.
"We will get focused on it, we will enjoy this for a little bit, get back and go to work on it tomorrow. Know that you are playing against -- anybody in this tournament, they're here at this time because they're playing well. On any given night, 40 minutes, it's such a fine line between winning and losing.
"You hope that from a scouting standpoint, again, I think I've got the best coaching staff in the country. They're going to do what they need to do to get our guys ready from that point of view, but we won't know that for a couple more hours. We will get back and guys will get in those ice tubs and try and get their bodies back because you expect it to be another grind game and hard-fought possession game."
Tennessee vs. UCLA history
This will be the second time Tennessee has ever met UCLA on the men's hardwood.
The other time was Atlanta during the 1976-77 season. The Vols fell to the Bruins 103-89 on Jan. 30, 1977.
That season, Tennessee finished at No. 15 in the AP Poll. After finishing 22-6 (16-2 SEC) and nabbing an SEC title under Ray Mears, the Vols fell to Syracuse in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, 93-88, in Lexington, Kentucky.
Bert Bertelkamp will have a part in both games played against UCLA. He was a guard for the Vols during the first meeting and is a part of the radio team for Tennessee this year. It is his final season providing color commentary to the broadcast before he will retire.
Johnny Darden was also on that Vols team that fell to the Bruins. During the win over Wofford, Zakai Zeigler broke Darden's long-standing career assist record in program history.
In the 1977 season, UCLA would finish No. 2 in the AP Poll after a 24-5 (11-3 Pac-8) season that resulted in a conference title. The Bruins would get caught in the second round of the NCAA Tournament by Idaho State.
– TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM.
– ENJOY VOLREPORT WITH A PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION.
– SUBSCRIBE TO THE VOLREPORT YOUTUBE CHANNEL.
– FOLLOW VOLREPORT ON TWITTER: @TennesseeRivals, @ByNoahTaylor, @RyanTSylvia, @Dale_Dowden, @ShayneP_Media.
