Get ready for the ultimate showdown! The USC vs. UCLA game on Saturday night promises to be epic, featuring a thrilling matchup between Trojans star Juju Watkins and UCLA standout Lauren Betts. (Ryan Sun, Michael Woods / Associated Press)
Pauley Pavilion is quiet for now, but that’s about to change. Kiki Rice looks at the empty stands after a recent practice. The UCLA guard knows this scene won’t last long with crosstown rival USC coming in 30 hours.
“To play a game where it’s going to be packed in here, it’s going to be sold out, the noise, the environment, I’m really excited,” Rice said Friday. “I think that’s really what I came to UCLA to be a part of.”
The Pac-12 opener for No. 2 UCLA and No. 6 USC is shaping up to be one of the best games in the long rivalry. This is the first time the teams have met as unbeatens and first time they’ve both been ranked since 1985. They haven’t met as two top-10 teams since 1981.
Read more: How UCLA’s ‘mind gym’ helped Lauren Betts rebuild her confidence
Hype has been building steadily. Both teams made appearances on “SportsCenter” this week. The Bruins (11-0) announced a sellout Wednesday. USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb was monitoring the rumors of a packed arena long before the official release, and after the Trojans (10-0) dominated UC Riverside at Galen Center on Dec. 10, Gottlieb told more than 4,000 USC fans that on Dec. 30, “we want to make sure it’s full of cardinal and gold.”
“We don’t shy away from the excitement around it,” Gottlieb said last week after the Trojans finished the nonconference slate with a win against Long Beach State. “I think both teams have earned it. They’re really tremendously good, we know that, but to have the rivalry game, the proximity be so close and both teams to be so good and so exciting is just really good for women’s basketball.”
Here are three things to watch:
On the big stage
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USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb, left, and guard JuJu Watkins react after a win over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in November. (Ryan Sun / Associated Press)
Two days before coaching against each other in the biggest game of the season, Gottlieb and UCLA coach Cori Close were recruiting side by side. They paused to celebrate a rare rivalry moment that both teams could celebrate as a victory.
“We want to look at this for years and go, ‘This is when Southern California basketball hit a major tipping point,’” Close said. “I think everybody wins in this scenario.”
While both programs celebrate the growth of the women’s game in L.A., where women’s college basketball has struggled to break through in a crowded market, Close admitted the balance between appreciating the massive opportunity and then staying focused enough to take advantage of it on the court is “delicate,