Conference championship on the line as men’s basketball prepares to face USC

The last time he played the Bruins, Nick Rakocevic put up 17 points and hauled in a game-high 14 rebounds.

Coach Mick Cronin said Tuesday he’s worried about seeing more of the same Saturday at the Galen Center.

“I woke up at 5 a.m. today, and Rakocevic just kept getting every rebound and he kept scoring and I was all over (junior guard) Chris Smith,” Cronin said.

UCLA men’s basketball (19-11, 12-5 Pac-12) will pay a visit to crosstown rival USC (21-9, 10-7) on Saturday with the Pac-12 regular season title on the line. A win for the Bruins would secure them at least a share of their first regular season conference championship since 2013, while the Trojans would stay in the race for a bye in the Pac-12 tournament with a win on their end.

Though USC won’t be able to catch up to UCLA in the conference standings, a win for the Trojans would give them their second season sweep over the Bruins in the last 10 seasons.

UCLA hasn’t been beaten twice by a Pac-12 opponent this season. The Bruins are 6-0 when facing a conference foe in the back end of a two-game season series.

Freshman guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. said there hasn’t been a specific reason the Bruins have turned things around against familiar opponents lately, but instead they’ve simply adapted to Cronin’s style.

“I would just say everything’s really starting to click right now,” Jaquez said. “We haven’t really changed much, I think we’re just really starting to understand the defensive and offensive principles that coach has been trying to put in. And it takes time, and it’s finally just coming together right now.”

USC beat UCLA in the teams’ first matchup Jan. 11, despite getting only four points and two rebounds out of five-star forward Onyeka Okongwu. The freshman big man leads the Trojans in points, rebounds and blocks per game with 16.2, 8.7 and 2.7, respectively.

“He’s got great size, he can score with both hands and he’s a tremendous rim runner and he can block shots,” Cronin said. “The only thing he really doesn’t do is perimeter shooting.”

Jaquez said between Okongwu, Rakocevic and forward Isaiah Mobley, the Bruins will have their hands full down low.

“They’ve just got a lot of big guys on their team,” Jaquez said. “They’re really physical, but we have big guys as well, so it’s going to be a battle of the bigs and rebounding.”

UCLA’s top-two bigs – redshirt sophomore forwards Cody Riley and Jalen Hill – combined for just six rebounds last time out against USC despite averaging 11.4 per game on the season.

The Bruins lost their last game against the Trojans in front of their only sellout home crowd this season. Freshman guard/forward Jake Kyman, whose mom played for UCLA women’s volleyball, said he has been invested in the crosstown rivalry his whole life and is looking forward to experiencing it in enemy territory Saturday.

“It’s pretty crazy, I’ve been with it since forever,” Kyman said. “It’s always been in the back of my mind whenever I come to UCLA, like, ‘Oh, how’s it going to be playing against USC?'” It was a great atmosphere the first time.”

The two teams’ regular season finale will tip off at 12:15 p.m.