Jeremy Vague and Utah St. can't contain UCLA's Dan Gadzuric during Saturday's second-round loss.(AP)

Kapono and forward Matt Barnes both started the game on the bench as punishment for leaving Friday's study hall session an hour early. It was a risky move by Lavin, who could have ended some of the speculation on his job security by taking the Bruins into the round of 16.

"I promise parents when I recruit kids that they will be held accountable," Lavin said. "Coach (John) Wooden always said, `The greatest motivation in college basketball is the bench.' I hope these kids learned from it."

Kapono seemed to have learned his lesson. On the court he hit 5-of-7 3-pointers, off of it he defended Lavin's decision.

"Rules are rules and me and Matt broke them," he said. "It was stupid and coach had every right to do what he did. I'm just lucky it worked out."

It worked out for the Bruins, who advanced to play top-seeded Duke (31-4) next week in Philadelphia.

And it worked out for Lavin, who improved to 9-4 in NCAA Tournament games and brought the Bruins (23-8) into the round of 16 for the fourth time in his five years as coach.

"If I'm going to struggle, this is a group I want to struggle with," Lavin said. "This is the first full wave of kids who came in with me as a head coach and I'm proud of that. This is a team of old souls."

Earl Watson, a senior who Lavin had to talk out of transferring three times during his career, was one of the first players to grab the coach for a long embrace when Lavin pulled his starters with 1:30 to play. Kapono and Barnes, who finished with nine points and eight rebounds, both joined in.

"He's our leader, like our father," Watson said. "We have a lot of loyalty and that's what that hug was about. We protect our family."

Watson finished with 16 points and nine assists and Dan Gadzuric dominated the post with 16 points and 14 rebounds.

Shawn Daniels scored 11 points to lead Utah State, which struggled to score in the first half and folded under UCLA's full-court press in the second half.

"It seemed like we came out scared as a team," Utah State center Dimitri Jorssen said. "We had this worry that they were these great athletes -- and don't get me wrong they're a very talented basketball team -- but we were kind of fearing them in a way that was not needed."

Utah State (28-6) had no problems with the Bruins' vaunted press in the first half, as the Aggies easily moved the ball down the court. But they struggled to hit shots, missing 22 consecutive attempts over a 14-minute span while falling into a 24-11 hole.

They finally ended the drought on Curtis Bobb's 3-pointer with 2:54 left in the half and only trailed 30-19 at the break.

"That's what makes us feel worse, that even though we did not play good, we were in the game for a long time," Jorssen said. "I'll always wonder what would have happened if we had played like we always play. Not even great, just like we usually play."

UCLA backed off the press at the start of the second half and Utah State didn't have to work so hard for offense. The Aggies opened the half with a 13-4 run to cut the deficit to 34-30 on Bernard Rock's 3-pointer with 13:27 to play.

That's when UCLA turned up the heat and Utah State couldn't adjust. The Bruins didn't allow Utah State to get the ball past midcourt on three straight possessions and converted all three turnovers into an explosive six-point spurt.

Gadzuric had a thundering dunk to start the run. Rock then turned the ball over in a double-team right outside the 3-point line and Barnes turned it into a UCLA layup.

Daniels then threw away the inbounds pass as he desperately looked for an open man, Barnes got the ball and tossed it in for a 49-36 lead.

Kapono sealed the game after Daniels missed a fast-break dunk. The Bruins got the rebound and threw a full-court pass to Kapono, who hit a 3-pointer for a 53-38 lead with 7:09 to play.