UCLA will have a much different, bigger presence in the paint when it opens the regular season Monday against Saint Francis of Pennsylvania.

Aday Mara, the 7-foot-3 center from Spain who missed Tuesday’s 97-56 exhibition win against Cal State Dominguez Hills, has been cleared to play by the NCAA, the program announced Friday.

Mara is expected to join sophomores Adem Bona and Dylan Andrews among the Bruins expected to be available after all three sat out the exhibition. UCLA is still awaiting word on whether 6-foot-9 Turkish forward Berke Buyuktuncel will be cleared by the NCAA in time for the season opener.

Mara, who has been practicing regularly, had been tied up in a legal dispute with Spanish professional team Basket Zaragoza, according to a report last Friday by the Los Angeles Times.

The club told the L.A. Times that Mara was still under contract.

“UCLA Athletics, Aday Mara and his family would like to thank the NCAA, his attorney Stu Brown and UCLA Senior Associate Athletic Director Erin Adkins for their work and cooperation during this process,” Bruins head coach Mick Cronin said in a statement released Friday.

Mara and Bona, a 6-foot-9 forward and Pac-12 freshman of the year and all-conference defensive team selection last season, are expected to form one of the more imposing frontcourt tandems in the country.

Bona, like Andrews, was held out of the exhibition for precautionary reasons. While Andrews was dealing with general soreness from practices, Bona suffered a shoulder injury in last season’s Pac-12 tournament and was not cleared for full contact in practices until after the second week of October.