How To Watch, Game Preview and Game Thread: UCLA Bruins vs. Southern Cal Trojans
After Saturday’s exciting win over Illinois, what will the Bruins do for an encore? While that remains to be seen, an encore is definitely needed because UCLA will host crosstown rival Southern Cal tonight at Pauley Pavilion. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 pm PT and the game will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1.
Southern Cal is in its second season under Eric Musselman. While the Trojans come into tonight’s game with an identical overall record to UCLA’s, but the Bruins have a better conference record than Southern Cal. The Trojans are just 7-9 in Big Ten play while UCLA is 10-6 in conference action. Southern Cal’s record was buoyed by starting off the season with 12 wins and just one loss. In other words, their overall record is as good as it is because of a weaker non-conference slate. That’s reflected in the fact that the Trojans are just 58 in the NET rankings while the Bruins sit at 41.
Southern Cal Trojans’ Starting Five
Musselman will probably start a lineup with two guards and three forwards.
The Trojans will be without junior guard Rodney Rice tonight. Rice was lost for the season due to a shoulder injury he suffered against Seton Hall. When he wen down, he was leading Southern Cal with 20.3 ppg.
With Rice out, the starting guards will probably be freshman Alijah Arenas and grad transfer Kam Woods, who joined USC this year after playing last season at Robert Morris. Arenas, the son of retired NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas, is averaging 14.3 ppg. Meanwhile, Woods is averaging 8.1 ppg and he is third on the team in rebounds with an average of 4.5 rpg.
Moving to the forwards, senior Ezra Ausar is leading the probable starters with an average of 15.7 ppg. Ausar is second in rebounds with an average of 6.4 rpg.
Sophomore Jacob Cofie is the other forward averaging in double figures with an average of 10.0 ppg. He is Southern Cal’s top rebounder as well, averaging 7.1 rpg. Cofie also leads the Trojans in blocks with 46.
The Trojans’ final starter is likely to be grad forward Terrance Williams II. Williams hasn’t contributed much statistically. He’s averaging just 2.5 ppg.
Auburn transfer Chad Baker-Mazara will likely be the first man off the bench. While he has started 20 games this year, he hasn’t started since any of the last four games. He’s averaging 18.4 ppg which actually means that he’s outscoring all of the probable starters. Baker-Mazara will be Southern Cal’s biggest three-point threat tonight. He’s shooting 37.2% from long distance, having made and tried more threes than the next two players combined.
The other two Trojans who are likely to see significant time off the bench are Jordan Marsh and Jaden Brownell. Marsh is averaging 7.0 ppg while Brownell is averaging 5.5 ppg.
Analysis
For all of UCLA’s woes this season, at least the Bruins aren’t the Trojans. Southern Cal has lost their last three games and six of their last ten games.
If this were any other team, I’d say that UCLA should easily win tonight’s game, but this is the first of two rivalry games these teams will play over the next 11 days.
So, you can toss the records out. Tonight’s game will be a battle, but ultimately, I expect the Bruins to follow up Saturday’s big win with a win over the Trojans as an encore.
Watch and Listen to the Game With TMB
Today’s game will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1 and streamed on FoxSports.com with Jason Benetti and Bill Raftery on the call. Of course, you can opt to listen to Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray on the radio or streamed on uclabruins.com instead. To watch or listen online, just right-click on the links so that you can open up another tab and have it going while you chat in the comments below.
This is your UCLA men’s basketball vs. Southern Cal Trojans game thread. Here’s how to watch, listen and stream today’s game:
UCLA Men’s Basketball (18-9, 10-6)
Opponent: Southern Cal Trojans (18-9, 7-9)
Series Record: UCLA leads, 149-116
When: 8:00 pm PT, Tuesday, February 24, 2026
Where: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
TV: FS1 with Jason Benetti and Bill Raftery
Live Stream: FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports app
Radio/Audio
Local Radio: KABC AM 790 with Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray
Satellite Radio: Sirius Ch. 117 and XM Ch. 195 (UCLA Call)
Online: uclabruins.com
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Game Notes:
UCLA
Go Bruins!!! Beat $c!!!
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Lot of traffic to get to Pauley tonight!
Is it because Gayley is closed due to construction and Westwood is even more of a nightmare than usual and not because of the basketball game? Who can say!
I am not the one driving home today, which means I’m going to take some time right now to absolutely slander Eric Musselman.
If it isn’t obvious by now, no coach in college was able to lie on their resume more than Musselman. Dude took advantage of transfer rules pre-portal to build veteran rosters for years at the lower levels and make himself look good. Now that everyone gets to grab transfers, he looks much more pedestrian as a coach, and his teams are so Lavin-like that Steve should sue for copyright infringement.
The dude’s one skill is his bullshitting ability, because it certainly isn’t schematic. UCLA played as sloppy as we’ve seen in awhile, and it didn’t matter because Southern Cal is a terribly-coached squad of highly-paid individuals. In that respect, it makes perfect sense that Gilbert Arenas sent his kid there: no one can ever accuse him of being smart enough to avoid an obvious scam. I’m sure his son got a decent paycheck before he flames out in the league for being soft.
Southern Cal is never going to be a legitimate threat with him at the helm, and the worst thing I can say is that this is a downgrade from Andy Enfield.