The race is getting tighter in the Pac-12.
UCLA men’s basketball (15-13, 8-7 Pac-12) has won three of its last four games to vault back up into the thick of things within the conference standings, but its biggest game of the season to this point – a date with the crosstown rival USC (15-13, 8-7) – awaits Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion.
“It’s a big game for us in terms of the Pac-12 standings, trying to get that bye, so it’s a big game, we’re practicing hard, we’re getting ready for it,” said sophomore guard Jaylen Hands. “We’re excited.”
The Trojans won the first meeting between the schools Jan. 19 with an 80-67 victory at the Galen Center behind a pair of 21-point performances by Bennie Boatwright and Nick Rakocevic.
Hands and redshirt junior guard Prince Ali each scored 15 points for UCLA while sophomore guard Kris Wilkes added another 13, but the trio finished as the only three players in double figures for the Bruins.
The contest was just UCLA’s fifth under interim coach Murry Bartow, and while the team had won three of those prior four games, redshirt junior forward Alex Olesinksi said the Bruins hadn’t yet settled in under Bartow and he expects Thursday night’s game to be different.
“I think we’re a little bit of a different team,” Olesinksi said. “We’re used to playing under (Bartow). We’re getting under ourselves a little bit more, we know what we want to do and our identity as a team.”
UCLA will also enter the contest riding the momentum of back-to-back home wins over Oregon and Oregon State that helped pull the Bruins from the bottom of the Pac-12 standings. Momentum or not, freshman guard Jules Bernard said the atmosphere of the UCLA-USC rivalry by itself will provide more than enough energy.
“Even as a young kid watching UCLA versus USC basketball games, like when I first came into the building, there was a different type of energy,” Bernard said. “And stepping onto the court, you can feel the crowd talking and stuff. Those are the types of games we all love to play in and I think Thursday is going to be a very exciting environment.”
The Bruins have beaten the Trojans in 10 of their last 15 meetings overall and in two straight at Pauley Pavilion. A UCLA win and a Utah loss to Colorado on Saturday would tie the Bruins and Utes in fourth place, however, Utah currently owns the tiebreaker thanks to its one-point victory over UCLA on Feb. 9.
If USC manages to steal one on the road, the Trojans will not only hold a one-game lead over the Bruins in the standings, but they will also own the tiebreaker.
With only two games remaining on UCLA’s schedule after Thursday’s game with USC, a loss could jeopardize the Bruins’ chances at earning that coveted first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament.
Without a bye and already minuscule odds at earning an automatic bid, UCLA’s only realistic shot at reaching the NCAA tournament would be by winning the Pac-12 tournament – which would entail the Bruins taking four games in as many days.
Tip-off on Thursday is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Pauley Pavilion.