LOS ANGELES — Basketball in Southern California is having a moment.
No. 3 USC has a generational sophomore in JuJu Watkins. With transfers like Kiki Iriafen and Talia von Oelhoffen, they are favorites not only to win the Big Ten title but are expected to make the Final Four and give No. 1 South Carolina a good fight for the national championship.
The Trojans are getting plenty of attention, but the No. 5 UCLA Bruins are just as good. They are led by junior center Lauren Betts and have come out with an impressive 3-0 start to the season, with no team testing them just yet.
On the surface, these two teams have a lot in common. Both are highly ranked, play in the Big Ten and call Los Angeles home. The similarities, however, stop there. They are best of enemies, two sides of the same coin. UCLA plays in Pauley Pavilion in the affluent Westwood neighborhood, while USC plays in the Galen Center near downtown Los Angeles. The Bruins wear bright blue and gold, and their stadium illuminates so much that you’d think the sun is feeding off of them, rather than the other way around. The Trojans step onto the court in gold and cardinal red, but there’s plenty of dark tones inside their stadium, giving the feeling of watching a basketball game in a well-lit movie theater.
On Tuesday, these two universities were alone together: UCLA was facing Pepperdine for an 11:30 a.m. PT matinee, and USC was hosting Cal State Northridge (CSUN) at 7 p.m. PT for prime time basketball. By the night’s end, it became clear that these teams were two trains on the same track, destined for a collision where Big Ten supremacy and national title aspirations will be on the line.
But that destination is a few stops away. For now, they’ll have to follow their own paths to ensure they reach that final stop.
Lauren Betts dominates in win over Pepperdine
On Tuesday, the Bruins left no doubt that this game was going to be over quickly, beating Pepperdine 91-54. Betts finished the game with 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Janiah Barker had a double-double of her own, ending the contest with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
UCLA jumped out to an 18-0 lead and never looked back. Betts was the epicenter of this early run, scoring nine points and dishing out two assists. The only baskets she didn’t directly have a hand in at the start were an Elina Aarnisalo jumper and a Barker layup.
In her postgame presser, coach Cori Close spoke about how important it is to get Betts activated early:
That’s going to be important for us game in and game out. Every time we start a game, we know that teams are going have to do something to handle her. Are you going to come off the pass to double? Are you going to come off the dribble? Are you going to try to full front? And so every game it’s important for us to read that really quickly, what is their game plan to try to slow her down, nobody is going to stop her. And then how do we adjust to make sure we establish her right away in the first quarter.
Later during the media availability, a question was asked about UCLA’s defense and how they were able to stop Pepperdine from having any success. While coach Close answered the question in a detailed manner, her two players, Betts and Aarnisalo, sat beside her, with Aarnisalo staring at Betts as if to say, “It’s because of you.” Betts cracked a smile before returning to a neutral expression, ensuring the nonverbal back-and-forth didn’t result in expressive laughter or a stern look from the coach hinting to knock it off.
The rest of the game was smooth sailing for the Bruins, but their relentlessness was the most impressive aspect. A canyon of talent separates these two teams, but it was UCLA that played with desperation. And that kind of hard work mixed with talent and veteran leadership makes them such a headache to play against this year.
USC makes history
Despite the Bruins winning by 37 points, it was USC that stole the show in the City of Angels. The Trojans trounced the Matadors on Tuesday, beating CSUN 124-39. The point total was the most ever in the program’s history.
Watkins was as effective as ever, scoring 21 points, dishing out nine assists and stealing the ball six times. She led the team in all three categories and had an unfathomable plus-minus of +72. USC had six players scoring in double figures, including freshman Kayleigh Heckel, who ended the night with 14 points in 15 minutes of play.
The Trojans gave CSUN zero grace and suffocated them from jump ball to the final buzzer. The only nice scoring burst the Matadors had was during the final minute of the half, where they went on a 7-0 run. To start the third, USC went on a 13-0 run, denying CSUN a point until midway through the quarter. Similar to UCLA, the attention to detail was unreal, and instead of settling for a 30-point blowout, they put together 40 minutes of dominance.
The victory was a historic point total for USC and the 300th career win for head coach Lindsay Gottlieb. After the victory, she shared some words with the fans, and in the locker room, her team made sure she was showered with love, bombarding her with confetti and giving her a cake to mark the milestone.
The vibes are immaculate at USC, but after three wins, including a slim victory in Paris against No. 20 Ole Miss to start this season, Gottlieb didn’t mince words about how much work is still left to be done. She said postgame:
I don’t think we’re where we ultimately want to be. Three games in, I think we’ve made a lot of improvements, even just coming back from Paris. I thought that game taught us a ton of lessons.
That contest against the Rebels was uncomfortably tight, as it took a pair of Kiki Iriafen free throws to seal the win. Still, with so many new pieces and a season opener overseas, it’s no surprise USC played like fish out of water and struggled to walk away with a win.
Since then, they’ve played more like title contenders, with each win becoming more impressive than the last. The Trojans will likely continue gelling better as they learn to play off each other, optimize Watkins and distribute the ball so that Iriafen and von Oelhoffen can shine. Gottlieb emphasized:
I would hope that our trajectory continues to go up and that we aren’t a finished product yet. And that’s the fun part to try and get where we want to be, but I’m certainly pleased with how we approach practice, how we try to get better and we’re not satisfied. We’ll try to be better tomorrow, but I like the trajectory and hope that continues.
This Tuesday doubleheader in LA was a tremendous appetizer, displaying the potential these two teams can reach through the winter and into the spring. If these games are any indication, we are in for a treat when these two play each other in Big Ten action on February 13 and March 1.
Until then, save the date and make any other UCLA or USC game required viewing because whether you’re a Bruin or a Trojan, all Angelenos can agree that both these teams can play.
