Jesus Garcia, Contributor

The 1-seed Arizona Wildcats (33-2) will face off against the 9-seed Utah State Aggies (29-6) in the second round of the 2026 NCAA men’s basketball tournament at San Diego State’s Viejas Arena. Today’s matchup will be the 5th all-time between the two schools, but the first since the 2005 NCAA tournament.

Arizona is the overwhelming favorite as the top team in the West region. After jumping out to a 23-0 start that came with an outright Associated Press #1 poll ranking, they are one of the three teams most likely to cut down the nets when the national championship is played on Apr. 6.

But before they get to Indianapolis, head coach Tommy Lloyd and the Wildcats can’t overlook the second team that’s on their way between a disappointing early exit and a 4th Sweet 16 trip in the last five years under his watch.

“Listen, I would say this with the utmost respect … you’re playing a really good program,” Lloyd said. “They [won] their conference regular season and their conference tournament, so I’m sure they have a gripe.”

The gripe Lloyd mentions is in regard to Utah State’s seed amongst the field of 68. As outright Mountain West champions and metrics that place them as a top 25-30 team, the Aggies hoped they’d earn better than a 9-seed to avoid playing the 1-seed in the round of 32.

“We felt disrespected, and the only way to get back is to win,” Aggies forward Garry Clark said. “So that’s our goal … we’re going to come out, give it all we’ve got. We know what we’ve got on the table.”

However, head coach Jerrod Calhoun expects his team to shift their focus to what’s ahead of them now that they’ve gotten the 8/9 game out of their way. That, of course, means attention towards the freshman-heavy Arizona squad.

“I mean, we’re 19th in the country, I think they’re 144th, if you look at the true analytics with experience on KenPom,” Calhoun said. “Nobody has played in the second round on our roster … but what makes March so special, it is a 40-minute game; whoever executes, whoever makes shots, defends, will advance, and it really doesn’t matter if you’re a 9 seed, a 1 seed, a 10 seed, it really has no bearing on tomorrow’s game.”

Aside from the experience factor, Utah State’s key to an upset victory will be stopping the Wildcats’ perimeter shooting. However, that is easier said than done, as they come into today’s matchup ranked 208th in three-point defense, per BartTorvik. In their 86-76 first round win over Villanova, they allowed 14 three-pointers. If not for an otherworldly shooting performance in the last 13 minutes where they only missed two shots, the Navy Blue & White would be back home in Logan, Utah by now.

The Wildcats’ first round matchup was far smoother than Utah State’s, given they’d earn the right to face a 16-seed in LIU that was completely overmatched from the start. While the balanced scoring, led by Brayden Burries’ 18 points got the spotlight, it was the glass domination that helped Arizona cruise. Freshman forward Ivan Kharchenkov was a major contributor in this aspect, with his 10 rebounds tying a career-high.

“Ivan’s obviously been a real impact player for us all season long, [it] seems like he’s finding his rhythm on offense a little bit more and finding ways to put up consistent numbers on a nightly basis, which has been really helpful,” Lloyd said. “I mean we knew [when] we were getting Ivan that he was going to be a good player. And I’m glad to see him having so much success.”

Lloyd and Arizona have come a long way since the 2023 NCAA tournament, where the 2-seed Wildcats were stunned by 15-seed Princeton in the first round. Lloyd has belief that this can be the Arizona team to cut down the nets for the first time since 1997 because of the culture they’ve established.

“This is a group, we work hard on our culture, and it’s a daily thing you gotta fight,” Lloyd said. “If you can work hard to get people on the same page and get them to care for each other, I think that goes a long way to creating a healthy environment.”