A sold-out crowd will watch the Bruins and Trojans face off Saturday night.
It certainly won’t be the first time in the history of the rivalry – every seat in Pauley Pavilion was filled for the 57th edition of the men’s basketball rivalry last January.
But the battle for Los Angeles has one more sell-out in store to close out 2023 – the first in the history of the women’s basketball programs’ rivalry since the Westwood arena upgraded its capacity in 2012.
All 13,800 seats in Pauley Pavilion are expected to be filled when No. 2 UCLA women’s basketball (11-0) takes on No. 6 USC (10-0) on Saturday. This year’s contest boasts two undefeated teams for the first time ever, and the sold-out crowd will crush the previous record for attendance at a Bruin home women’s basketball game – 9,530 – which was set during a previous edition of the crosstown rivalry back in 1999.
“Students aren’t here – you’re competing with bowl games,” said coach Cori Close. “This is a big deal that during the holiday break that we’re able to do that.”
The highly-anticipated matchup comes as the Bruins are ranked No. 2 in the nation – the highest ranking in program history – for the sixth week in a row. UCLA began the season ranked No. 4 in the preseason AP poll but ascended to and held its record-breaking spot after an undefeated start that includes wins over then-No. 6 UConn, then-No. 20 Florida State and then-No. 13 Ohio State.
“That’s gonna be, I think our, maybe our super power in some ways is that we’ve really been in some big moments already, in some tough environments, in adrenaline-induced environments,” Close said. “I would not have predicted with the schedule that we had that we would be 11-0.”
UCLA has exceeded Close’s expectations with its perfect start, in large part due to the contributions of sophomore center Lauren Betts, who Close admitted has surprised her with how quickly the 6-foot-7 center has reached an elite level of play since transferring from Stanford.
Betts currently leads the nation in field goal percentage at 77.1% thus far in her sophomore season, and she ranks in the top seven in the Pac-12 in points and rebounds per contest at 16.9 and 9.2, respectively, through her first 11 games as a Bruin.
“I’m really grateful for the position I’ve been put in, but it is kind of trippy sometimes how well we’ve just connected,” Betts said. “Our chemistry’s just really great.”
Making her debut in the crosstown rivalry, Betts will play alongside graduate student guard Charisma Osborne – a southern California native – who has lost just once to USC. The fifth-year is averaging 14.5 points per game ahead of UCLA’s attempt to make it nine consecutive wins against its rival.
Osborne and then-freshman guard Kiki Rice each scored 14 points in the Bruins’ 59-56 win at the Galen Center last December. Weeks later, UCLA survived a January upset bid in Pauley Pavilion with a 61-60 victory behind 22 points from then-freshman guard Londynn Jones.
Rice is averaging 13.5 points and 6.5 assists per game – 12th in the country – so far in her sophomore season. The Maryland native and former No. 2 overall recruit said she came to Westwood for highly-anticipated matchups, such as the upcoming Saturday affair.
“To play a game where it’s going to be packed in here, it’s going to be sold out, the noise and environment, I’m really excited,” Rice said. “That’s really what I came to UCLA to be a part of and to help bring big crowds here, and just big games.”
In addition to Saturday’s matchup being the first time both rivals are meeting while undefeated, it marks the first top-10 matchup between UCLA and USC since 1981.
Behind star freshman guard Juju Watkins and her 26.8 points per game – which ranks second in the nation – the Trojans ascended from No. 21 in the preseason top 25 to No. 6 following their 10-0 start. After leading USC to an NCAA tournament appearance for the first time since 2014 in just her second season at the helm, coach Lindsay Gottlieb has led the Trojans to their highest ranking in 29 years.
Close said she and Gottlieb are excited for what Saturday’s matchup means for women’s basketball in the area.
“We both were just like, ‘This is just so good for our game,’” Close said. “We want this to be something we look back on for years and go, ‘This is when Southern California basketball hit a major tipping point.’”
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