It will be a surprise Sunday evening if Utah State can defeat Arizona in an NCAA Tournament game at Viejas Arena.

But if it does happen, don’t be surprised if it produces a viral moment starring a 27-day-old baby boy and his mother.

America was introduced briefly to little Gainz Rocky Allen, whose father, Drake, is a starting guard for the Aggies, and his mom, Allen’s wife, Hallestyn, during Friday’s first-round victory by the Aggies over Villanova. Surely the TV cameras will be on cuteness overload if Utah State, the No. 9 seed in the West Region, shocks the top-seeded Wildcats.

“I know he’s really little,” Allen said Saturday before Utah State, an 11 1/2-point underdog, practiced at Viejas Arena.

“He’s young, and a lot of people might say, ‘Oh, he shouldn’t be here,’ but you know, I wanted him to be here. It’s a special moment. I want him to be able to say, ‘I was at March Madness when my dad played Arizona.’ I want him to be able to say he was there.”

Allen played a key role in Friday’s win with his typical well-rounded game — 11 points, six assists, three rebounds and three steals. “I thought he switched the game more than anybody,” Villanova coach Kevin Willard said.

Gainz won’t remember any of it, of course, but he sure seemed like he enjoyed it, according to his father.

“He loved it,” Allen said. “I think he likes the basketball noises. When he was in (his mom’s) belly, he was at all the games. So I think he’s just used to the noises and the yelling and the crowd noise. So he does really good at the games, and then as soon as we get back, he usually throws a fit.”

Allen, 24, smiled. He knows the deal.

Sleep has been at a premium over the past four weeks, he said. “But a lot of love. Just felt the love from a lot of people, and from him, it’s just been, I mean, it doesn’t get better than that, being able to play basketball, going home, seeing your son, him being here at the game.”

Allen’s teammates joke about him playing now with “daddy power,” and his scoring stats have risen over the past month. Tossing out a three-point showing just two days after Gainz was born, Allen has averaged 11.7 points in his last seven games after scoring 7.0 points per game in his first 26.

“I wouldn’t call it that,” Allen said. “I think my ‘whys’ changed. I have a different purpose when I get on the floor now. I want my wife to be proud. I want my son to be able to tell his friends when he’s older, ‘My dad was a hooper.’ Just a different change of mind, change of purpose.”

Besides, points aren’t a priority for Allen. He was pleased to hear that Willard and Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said he plays a key role in the Aggies’ success, even if he doesn’t always get credit.

“Points don’t really matter to me,” Allen said. “The assists (nearly 5 per game) are what I really care about. That makes me the most happy and if I can get a couple stops on defense and those are winning plays, that’s what’s going to help the team win.”

It helps that Allen has, as he put it, “been in every role, basically,” during a college career that took him from Snow College (where he met his wife) to Southern Utah to Utah Valley — where he graduated with a degree in business management — and finally to Utah State as a grad student.

“Every game needs something different,” he said. “So I just try to step in where I can. … You’ve got to have a mindset of doing whatever the team needs. And I generally believe we have 15 guys that have that mindset of, we just want to win.”

They’ve done so 29 times in 35 games this season, but to reach 30 they’ll need their best performance yet. Until Friday, their only wins against NCAA Tournament teams came early in the season against VCU and South Florida, a pair of 11 seeds. It’s quite a contrast from Arizona (33-2), which beat Florida, UConn and UCLA in nonconference play and then spent the next 2 1/2 months playing in a conference that sent eight teams to the tournament.

“It’s going to be a challenge,” Allen said. “We understand that. They’re a heck of a team. They have a lot of great basketball players. … You know, you want to be able to look back in your career and say you played against the best. So that’s what we’re excited for.”