The top-ranked UCLA Bruins are the nation’s last unbeaten Division I team in the country for men and women. Thursday, they take their perfect 23-0 record on the road — 14 miles away, to be exact — to face the No. 6 USC Trojans (21-2) in the first of two highly anticipated games between the Big Ten’s top two teams.
Lauren Betts, a 6-foot-7 junior, leads UCLA — currently projected as the No. 1 overall seed in Bracketology — with 19.6 points and 9.7 rebounds. JuJu Watkins, who broke the NCAA freshmen single-season scoring record last season, paces USC with 23.9 points per game. Both are contenders for national player of the year, though Notre Dame Fighting Irish sophomore Hannah Hidalgo has emerged as the front-runner at this point of the season.
Will the Bruins keep their perfect season intact? Or will the Trojans, who recently dropped to a No. 2 seed in Bracketology — take down their cross-town rival with a big résumé-boosting victory?
We’ve got live coverage and analysis of the top-10 showdown from the Galen Center.
