Women’s college basketball will look to Los Angeles this week for one of its highest profile matchups of the regular season.

No. 1 UCLA women’s basketball (23-0, 11-0 Big Ten) will take on No. 6 USC (21-2, 11-1 Big Ten) on Thursday night at the Galen Center. The game will feature two of the nation’s best players with junior center Lauren Betts and USC guard JuJu Watkins – who are both on the latest watchlist for the John R. Wooden Award, which recognizes the best players in college basketball – headlining the intercity rivalry matchup.

The Bruins enter this season’s first rivalry matchup – the Trojans are the only team they play twice – with even more momentum than last year, and a No. 1 ranking which they’ve held for 12 weeks in a row.

“I don’t really think we try to focus on the pressure of being No. 1,” said coach Cori Close. “I just think pressure is a privilege, and that’s something you got to lean into.”

Last season, UCLA carried a perfect 14-0 record into the Galen Center before it took on USC. The Bruins entered the game with nine consecutive wins against the Trojans and had already defeated their rival two weeks prior.

Yet, it was USC that emerged victorious in a game that helped to turn the tide of UCLA’s season. The Bruins followed the game by losing three of their next six games, dropping their national ranking from No. 2 to No. 12.

USC defeated UCLA once again two months later in a two-overtime thriller to knock the Bruins out of the Pac-12 tournament.

UCLA enters the rivalry contest following a hard-fought 62-52 win at Oregon where the Bruins’ offense had its worst performance of the season, giving the team its two lowest-scoring games of the season in its last two games.

Junior guard Londynn Jones was the only Bruin to rack up double digit points against the Ducks, scoring a season-high 21 points.

“We didn’t play our best as a team, and we know that,” Jones said. “We just need to go out there and play the game we know how to play. We’re an amazing team and we know what we need to do.”

Watkins will serve as a challenge for UCLA’s highly-ranked scoring defense. The 2023-2024 first-team All-American is the conference’s top scorer with an average of 23.9 points per game and a 43% field goal percentage.

While Betts was limited to only nine points against the Ducks, she could bring the star power for the Bruins as the No. 2 scorer in the Big Ten with 19.6 points per game and shoots 63.1% from the field.

“They (Oregon) are one of the only teams that has someone who can play Lauren Betts one-on-one,” Close said. “We were a little frustrated. It’s a credit to Lauren. She’s just been so remarkable all year long and it’s the first time she’s had a little bit of a struggle versus one-on-one defense.”

Phillipina Kyei, Oregon’s 6-foot-8 center, was crucial for containing the 6-foot-7 Betts throughout that contest. However, USC’s tallest player is only 6-foot-6 and its tallest starter is just 6-foot-4, giving Betts her usual height advantage.

USC’s only home loss this season came when it fell to a Notre Dame squad, which is now ranked No. 2 in the nation. In its most recent matchup, the team cruised to a 21-point win over No. 9 Ohio State – who UCLA defeated by 13 points last Wednesday – for the Trojans’ eighth consecutive home victory and their third defeat of a top-10 opponent.

“There’s a poise about us and a quiet confidence,” Close said. “You can make your run, you can throw a punch, but we’re very confident with how we’ll respond.”