LEXINGTON, Ky. — Mick Cronin didn't have any room for Jahmai Mashack.

The UCLA head coach, who was returning most of a roster that had just reached the Final Four and a commitment in 2021, had no scholarship to give the guard from nearby Etiwanda High School in Rancho Cucamonga—less than 60 miles from the Bruins' campus in Westwood.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

Mashack ended up at Tennessee instead, trading the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains for the foothills of the Smokies, where he will long be regarded as one of the best defenders in program history.

For now, Mashack is one of the best defenders in college basketball, and he'll lead the 2-seed Vols (28-7) up against 7-seed UCLA (22-10) in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament at Rupp Arena on Saturday (9:40 p.m. ET, TBS or TruTV).

“They got Jahmai Mashack, who we would have tried to sign but we didn’t have a scholarship,” Cronin. “We didn’t have a need for him at the time. But I knew he was a winner. He’s a great kid.”

Mashack knew the history. How could any basketball player on the West Coast not? John Wooden, Bill Walton, Kareem Abdul-Jabar and the 11 national titles. Mashack respected it, and still does. But there was never a dream of growing up and playing there.

Had the Bruins pursued him, maybe that would have changed. Mashack picked Tennessee, and it has been the perfect marriage since.

That marriage is nearing its end in Mashack's fourth season, but if it were to extend another game, it will be due in no small part to the lengthy and suffocating defender that has been the bane of the existence of SEC offenses for the last four years.

Add in the motivation factor, like playing the blue blood program from his home state that also prides itself on defense, and Mashack is even harder to go up against.

MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Everything Rick Barnes, Tennessee players said about UCLA matchup

"They were a team I was talking to," Mashack said. "I wasn't a super fan of UCLA. I thought they were really good program, really good history. But it wasn't like a dream school of mine. Any Cali team I go against, I've got a chip on my shoulder. I want to be able to dominate."

Whoever Mashack ends up paring with at any point he's on the floor late Saturday, there's a chance he's played them before.

The UCLA roster features eight players from Southern California, players that Mashack has spent offseasons working out with or playing against in high school or the travel basketball circuit.

He knows them, and they know him. They'll play each other one more time in the highest stakes game of their lives.

"They're good, you know they're always competitive," Mashack said. "I've been around some of the guys, work out with some of the guys. I've done a lot of that stuff. I'm used to playing against Cali guys. I know what to expect, I know what they're going to do. I know they're going to come at me. So I've got to reach another level."

– 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.