Tennessee opens as a small favorite over UCLA

2-seed Tennessee is moving on to the round of 32 after their win over Wofford on Thursday night. Their opponent will be the UCLA Bruins, who thumped Utah State in the first round. The 7-seed Bruins won by 25 points, holding Utah State to just 4-31 from the three-point line.

UCLA, a team with a defense-first approach, will run into a similar team on Saturday night. Tennessee ranks third in defensive efficiency, per KenPom. UCLA ranks 15th in that same metric.

“Mick’s teams always defend, very good ball pressure team, very good active in the gaps, really good hands, they do a good job with their hands,” Rick Barnes said of UCLA. “They know how they want to play. They’re going to — really good…