Women's Basketball How to Watch and Game Thread: #2 UCLA Bruins vs. #4/3 Southern Cal Trojans
The Bruins host the Trojans in the regular season finale with the conference title on the line.
Tonight, the Bruins meet the Trojans in women’s basketball for the 107th time with the series tied 53 games each. So, whichever team wins tonight gets the edge in the all-time series. But there’s more on the line than crosstown bragging rights tonight. The Big Ten Conference regular season title goes to the winner. This is the way things are supposed to be.
After 17 conference games this season, these teams are tied. Each team has won 16 games and lost just one. The winner will be the Big Ten regular season champion and will earn the top seed in the Big Ten women’s basketball tournament. The loser will be seeded number two.
There’s a good chance, depending on the outcome of the conference tournament that tonight’s winner will also be the top seed in the NCAA Tournament, too, but that won’t be known until Selection Sunday on March 16th. Before we can get to that, we first need to determine who the top seed will be in the conference tournament, and that will happen tonight in sold-out Pauley Pavilion.
I’m not going to go too in depth into the Trojans’ starting lineup like I usually do for the men for one simple reason: The Bruins need to stop Juju Watkins.
In the first meeting between these teams, which streamed on Peacock about two weeks ago, Watkins dropped 38 points and Southern Cal won 71-60. If the Bruins hadn’t given up so many points to Watkins, they could have won that game. Now, that’s easy to say. It’s tougher actually doing it.
If the Bruins hadn’t given up Watkins’ season-high, they may have won that game, and the fact that Watkins made six of nine three-pointers went a long way towards putting up 38 in that game a few weeks ago.
So, the UCLA women’s team needs to take a page out of Mick Cronin’s book and play some solid defense against the sophomore guard.
When the teams played a few weeks ago, only two Trojans scored in double figures—Watkins and Kiki Iriafen, the grad transfer from Stanford who scored 13 points in that game. So, Watkins and Iriafen combined for 51 of Southern Cal’s 71 points two weeks ago.
If the Bruins can find a way to defend both of these players, look for a Bruin win tonight. If they can’t stop them, it will be another long night for the Bruins.
Listen to the Game With TMB
Tonight’s game will be broadcast on Fox with Jason Benetti, Sarah Kustok and Allison Williams on the call. Of course, you can choose to listen to Dave Marcus call the game for the Bruins by listening online. To do that, just right-click on the link below so that you can open up another tab and have it going while you chat in the comments below. Listen to tonight’s game online.
This is your UCLA women’s basketball vs. Southern Cal Trojans game thread. Here’s how to watch, listen and stream tonight’s game:
UCLA Women’s Basketball (27-1, 16-1)
Opponent: Southern Cal Trojans (25-2, 16-1)
Series Record: Series tied, 53-53
When: 6:00 pm PT, Saturday, March 1, 2025
Where: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
TV: Fox with Jason Benetti, Sarah Kustok and Allison Williams
Live Stream: FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports app
Online Audio: uclabruins.com
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Game Notes:
UCLA
Go Bruins!!! Beat $c!!!
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As usual, when push comes to shove, Close folds. Great at talent acquisition, but that’s just half of the game. For anyone who points at Cronin teams as having “no identity”, this is what that really looks like, with no adaptability when a team can match the talent level.
I fear for this team in the Sweet 16, let alone later in the tournament when the good coaches and good talent win out.
Southern Cal is coming out with the same strategy from the last game (throw multiple bodies at Betts) and it’s still working. Close only has one pitch and if the other team can match it, she just gives up bombs.