USC’s Ebony Hoffman isn’t throwing any punches this
year. Instead, she is throwing down a challenge.
After playing a central role in an ugly skirmish last season at
Pauley Pavilion, Hoffman has appealed to her teammates to play with
more grit and determination then they have showed thus far this
season when the Women of Troy come to Westwood to renew their
rivalry with the Bruins on Sunday.
“We have to match UCLA’s intensity and their
physicality,” the All-Pac-10 forward said. “They have
the wins and we don’t. We need to play them like they are
Stanford.”
While UCLA (9-4, 4-0 Pac-10) currently sits atop the conference
standings, to put them in the same class as a national juggernaut
like the No. 5 Cardinal might be a little bit premature.
Nonetheless, the Bruins’ unblemished Pac-10 record serves as
a sort of bullseye at which the struggling Trojans (6-9, 3-4
Pac-10) can take aim.
“People love to beat us,” UCLA head coach Kathy
Olivier said. “Being undefeated, I think we have an even
greater bullseye on our backs.”
Both the Bruins and Trojans have a lot to play for when they
square off on Sunday. UCLA can avenge a pair of losses to its
crosstown rivals last season, while USC will try to avoid falling
further back in an already crowded Pac-10 race.
Although the Trojans have the personnel necessary to make a deep
run in the NCAA tournament, it hasn’t translated into
victories thus far this season. Last weekend’s disheartening
overtime loss to Washington has put the squad in jeopardy of
falling out of contention in the Pac-10 race before the end of
January.
“USC should be winning a lot of games,” Olivier
said. “I think they have the most talent in the Pac-10, and
they’re one of the teams projected to be in the top three in
the league.”
The Trojans are led by the 6-foot-2 Hoffman (15.8 ppg) and a
pair of dynamic 5-10 guards, junior Aisha Hollans (11.7 ppg) and
Duke-transfer Rometra Craig (16.7 ppg).
Since regaining her eligibility on Dec. 19, Craig has been a
catalyst offensively for USC. The Trojans are averaging 79 points
per game after Craig was inserted in the lineup, and have been much
more effective in transition.
“Offensively she gives us a dimension that we
haven’t had,” USC head coach Chris Gobrechdt said.
“Since she joined the team we haven’t had trouble
scoring the ball.”
The Bruins ought to be very familiar with what Craig brings to
the table, since Olivier recruited the jet-quick guard when she was
the U.S.A. Today California Player of the Year coming out of the
prep ranks in 2000.
Furthermore, the Trojans do not have any consistent threats from
behind the arc, and UCLA has not allowed a conference opponent to
shoot more than 45 percent from the field.
If the Bruins continue to create opportunities for themselves in
the transition game and manage to contain Hoffman in the paint, the
squad could further legitimize itself as a contender in the
Pac-10.
“For being such a young team, I think we’ve been
very consistent,” Olivier said. “It’s still very
early, but this team has shown a lot of potential. After we play
USC and go to Arizona next week, we’ll have more of a true
indication of where we are.”