UCLA doesn’t many opportunities left to get a signature win on the resume. That makes this local battle with USC all the more important.
TV schedule: Saturday, February 3, 6:00 p.m. ET. ESPN2
Arena: Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, California.
Pac-12 basketball has seen their ups and downs in recent years, with the league’s number of bids fluctuating from a high number to as low as just two bids. And while this year isn’t as bad, it’s certainly not in great shape. In Busting Brackets’ latest edition of Bracketology, only three teams received projected bids.
Arizona is the only safe team, while Arizona State and more on the bubble. Here is the thing for USC. They were off the bubble picture altogether a while ago but winning six games in a row and eight of the last nine have put them in a good situation. The schedule does get tougher with three road games, including a pair at the ranked Arizona schools, coming up.
But they’ll have to get past their local rival UCLA first, though. The Bruins were in the at-large picture a couple of weeks ago, but three straight losses to non-tournament teams took them completely out. They have won two straight since, but wins over Stanford and Cal aren’t going to cut it.
This is the first meeting between these teams this season, with the rematch coming at USC in the regular season finale.
The point guard battle between Aaron Holiday of UCLA and Jordan McLaughlin of USC should be fun to watch, as these are the conference’s top passers. But how the Bruins deal with the Trojans frontcourt of Bennie Boatwright and Chimeze Metu will determine the outcome of the game. Thomas Welsh doesn’t have the athleticism or physicality on defense to contain these two, and Steve Alford of UCLA doesn’t have many other options inside.
Next: Three reasons UCLA basketball is struggling
The Bruins have a below-average defense and struggles to guard athletic teams. USC is second only to Arizona in raw athletes and I believe that it’ll give them the edge in this one.
Prediction: USC 90 – UCLA 80