The USC Trojans’ next game is on Thursday against the UCLA Bruins. USC will face a UCLA team coming off a loss.
The Bruins fell to Arizona on Saturday in Tucson, dropping a 58-52 decision to the Wildcats. UCLA will be angry and motivated heading into this USC game. The Trojans have to know they will get the Bruins’ most intense and focused effort, which adds to the degree of difficulty for the Men of Troy.
UCLA’s defense was more than good enough to beat Arizona. USC figures to have a hard time scoring against the Bruins on Thursday, as was the case in a 60-58 loss to UCLA on January 5 in Westwood. USC will — as always — need to muck the game up and make it extremely hard for UCLA to score. USC is much more likely to win a rockfight than a game played in the high 70s or low 80s.
UCLA couldn’t hit the side of a barn against Arizona. Some of this was the Wildcats’ defense, but a lot of it was UCLA relying on jump shots and not hitting them. Plenty of open looks clanged off the rim in what was an ugly game by both teams.
Jaime Jaquez was just 5 of 17 from the field against Arizona. Tyger Campbell was 5 of 18. Jaylen Clark was 4 of 13. UCLA finished at 31 percent from the field, 4 of 20 from 3-point range, and just 6 of 11 at the free throw line.
USC will need similarly ugly offensive numbers from UCLA if it is going to beat the Bruins on Thursday.
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