The USC women’s basketball team has a full week off. The Trojans aren’t playing this coming weekend. You can be sure that the coaching staff will be tuning in to NBC Sports on Sunday. UCLA is visiting Maryland in College Park in a highly significant Big Ten women’s basketball game.
Maryland just lost to Ohio State on Thursday. The Terrapins fell to 6-2 in the conference. Therefore, if Maryland loses to UCLA, the Terps will pick up a third conference loss and would lose head-to-head tiebreakers against each of the top three teams in the Big Ten women’s basketball standings. In other words, a Maryland loss would be a crushing blow for the Terrapins in their attempt to win the Big Ten regular-season championship. A UCLA win would solidify the Bruins alongside USC and Ohio State as the top three contenders in the conference.
If Maryland is able to upset UCLA, though, USC would become the only Big Ten women’s basketball team with a perfect and unblemished conference record. UCLA would slip into a second-place tie with Ohio State. Maryland would stay afloat in the title chase.
The UCLA-Maryland women’s basketball game airs on NBC at 11 a.m. Pacific time, 2 p.m. in the East, on Sunday.