In an intriguing first round matchup, the No. 11 seed UCLA Bruins will take on the No. 6 seed SMU Mustangs in Louisville, KY, this afternoon. This game could provide a possible 11 over 6 upset in your NCAA bracket.
The Bruins (20-13) were a bubble team but snuck in past Miami (FL), Colorado State, Temple and Murray State to earn their second straight tournament bid. At the beginning of the season, UCLA looked dead-to-rights after suffering losses to every formidable opponent they faced, including Oklahoma, UNC, Gonzaga, Kentucky, Alabama and Utah. They even added a loss to Colorado.
However, they managed to rebound in the second half and notched wins over Utah and Oregon and on the road against Stanford. The Bruins also played the Arizona Wildcats tough on two separate occasions, once on the road and again in the Pac-12 Tournament semi-final. Led by guards Norman Powell (16.4 points per game) and Bryce Alford (15.1 ppg and 5.0 assists per game), UCLA has a solid backcourt that should challenge SMU's stout perimeter defense.
As for Larry Brown's Mustangs, Southern Methodist captured the regular season and tournament title for the American Athletic Conference. In the conference tournament they defeated East Carolina, Temple and Connecticut and guaranteed themselves a bid to the big dance. They finished 15-3 against American opponents and also earned wins over other NCAA Tournament teams such as Eastern Washington and Wyoming.
SMU was challenged in the beginning of the year with matchups against Gonzaga, Indiana and Arkansas, but lost all three. Guard Nic Moore leads the Mustangs in scoring and assists with 14.2 ppg and 5.2 apg while big men Markus Kennedy (11.7 ppg and 6.1 rpg) as well as Yanick Moreira (11.2 ppg and 6.4 rpg) provide the presence down low. SMU has won 10 of their last 11 with their only loss over that span coming to Connecticut back on Mar. 1.
Here are some noteworthy statistics for each team heading into today's 3:10 p.m. ET matchup.
UCLA | SMU |
RPI - .5692 (49th overall) | RPI - .6201 (13th overall) |
SOS - 29 | SOS - 42 |
PPG - 72.0 (62nd overall) | PPG - 69.4 (119th overall) |
FG% - .441 (135th overall) | FG% - .479 (22nd overall) |
Points Allowed Per Game - 68.0 (222nd overall) | Points Allowed Per Game - 59.8 (23rd overall) |
Turnovers Per Game - 11.9 (111th overall) | Turnovers Per Game - 12.6 (185th overall) |
Season Rank - 42 | Season Rank - 18 |
You can check out the live stream of UCLA vs. SMU here as well as the live radio broadcast here. The game will be televised on truTV.
