Never mind the school spirit that says it's time to return the favor against the Women of Troy. It seemed like it was just yesterday when the UCLA women's basketball team debuted its throwback jerseys in an exhibition tiff against Vanguard. But alas, the season is slowly winding down to an end, and if the Bruins want to put themselves in the best possible position for the Pac-12 tournament, they'll have to take out USC tomorrow at noon at the Galen Center.
Of course, the last time these two teams met, USC came away victorious after 40 minutes of a rugged, drawn-out game. So it stands to reason something will have to change for the Bruins tomorrow. For starters, look for UCLA to speed the game up, as opposed to the low-scoring 47-43 affair back on Jan. 14.
"The reality is, we spent way too much time in our last game playing defense and giving USC those second opportunities," UCLA head coach Cori Close said. "It'll be so key on so many levels for us to control the defensive boards, not only because we don't want to give them those second-chance looks, but also because we need that so that we can play uptempo and play our best offensive game."
Not just that, but the Bruins will also need their scorers to live up to their roles. After his team secured the win at the John Wooden Center, USC coach Michael Cooper made no secret of the fact that his strategy was to shut down the trio of Rebekah Gardner, Markel Walker, and Thea Lemberger. While Gardner still managed to put up 20 points, Walker and Lemberger combined for just nine points on quiet shooting nights. Quicken the pace of the game, and the Bruins up their chances.
As for defense, the key will be to limit USC's Ashley Corral. In the previous matchup, the senior guard didn't have much to show for in the scoring department (10 points on 3-of-12 shooting from the field), but she found other ways to help her team, chipping in with eight rebounds and, more importantly, eight assists with just one turnover.
"It won't be a matter of which individual person is going to be matched up with Ashley Corral, it'll be about our team philosophy to keep her in check," Close said. "We need to keep her in front of us and not have her get into the teeth of our defense, because not only is she really good at drawing fouls and creating pull-up jumpers for herself, but also at finding teammates for easy looks."
Also on the Bruins' radar? USC's Ariya Cook, who went off for 21 points off the bench to help defeat Cal in the Trojans' last game. Incidentally, the freshman guard scored 11 of those points in the last two minutes of overtime, emerging as yet another offensive weapon for USC.
"Obviously, Cook was the difference-maker at Cal and has been coming on strong lately, so that adds a different dimension because she's a different kind of player from Corral," Close said. "One of our keys will be to basically shut down that position, and that's going to take tremendous focus on our part because they are so different."
How this Pac-12 season ends is anyone's guess, what with UCLA and USC tied for fourth at 7-6 in the conference, and Arizona State and Oregon State tied for third at 8-6. But with a win tomorrow in Trojan territory, the Bruins will certainly place themselves in good position in what will likely continue to be a crowded race to the finish.
