To say that this weekend will be a telling one for the UCLA women’s basketball team would be an understatement.
Tonight, the Bruins (9-4, 2-0) will host Cal (6-6, 0-1) and will be looking to carry the momentum they gained this past weekend, when they swept the Arizona schools, into their matchup with the always competitive Golden Bears.
But in this instance, Cal represents the quiz.
On Sunday, the Bruins will take the exam.
The No. 2 Stanford Cardinal (11-1, 1-0) will make its way into Pauley Pavilion Sunday as UCLA looks to gain its second win over a ranked opponent in the month of January.
This past Sunday, the Bruins defeated the then-No. 19 Arizona State Sun Devils 74-56.
But similar to almost all collegiate coaches, UCLA coach Nikki Caldwell is adamant that rankings are not important to her or her team.
They care more about the competition.
“We really didn’t focus on the ranking, we just focused on the opponent,” Caldwell said in reference to the Bruins’ win over the Sun Devils.
“I think for this team, it’s about one game at a time. We want to make sure that we’re performing at our maximum capacity on Friday in order to segue into the game on Sunday.”
Currently, the Bruins are riding a four-game winning streak, defeating their opponents by an average of more than 18 points per contest.
But the upcoming weekend should certainly prove to be more challenging for Caldwell’s squad, an idea that the second-year coach is more than aware of.
“I think it’s going to be a full-out grind,” Caldwell said. “I know Cal; last year when they came here, we upset them, so I know that they’re going to be hungry to come in here and steal this win against us.
It’s going to be fast-paced, it’s going to be physical, it’s going to be a will of who’s going to execute down the line and keep their poise.”
And according to junior guard Darxia Morris, the Bruins are being careful not to overlook the Golden Bears in anticipation of their matchup with the highly touted Cardinal.
“Well, right now we’re thinking of Cal, but after that I know Coach is going to really prepare us,” Morris said after Thursday’s practice.
“We’ve been watching (Stanford) since last year, so it’s going to be a real big game for us. But we’ll do really well.”
Echoing the sentiments of her coach, Morris expects the weekend to consist of two difficult games against two difficult opponents.
“It’s going to be really aggressive and competitive because Cal and Stanford are really good teams,” Morris said.
“They’re two different teams to me. Cal is like a fast-paced, transition team, and Stan ford is like a half-court team because they’re so big.”
Despite having the utmost respect for the other teams in the Pac-10, Morris was not shy in expressing what she thinks this team is capable of.
“I think we’re improving every day in practice and in the games. If we keep it up … we’ll have a Pac-10 championship.”