Last season, the Ohio State women’s basketball team included USC and UCLA in their non-conference schedule as part of their preparation for the expanded Big Ten.
After suffering defeats against both Los Angeles teams, a revamped Buckeyes squad now heads to California for one of the most challenging road trips in college basketball.
in just four days, the Scarlet and Gray will face the top-ranked UCLA Bruins and the seventh-ranked USC Trojans.The Bruins are the only remaining undefeated team in NCAA Division I basketball, with a victory over the defending champions, the South Carolina Gamecocks, which ended their 43-game winning streak.
Before USC’s loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes on Sunday, they were ranked No. 4 in the nation, largely thanks to their standout guard, JuJu Watkins, who leads the Big Ten with an average of 24.7 points per game.
This season, the Trojans managed to defeat the UConn Huskies on their home court in Connecticut.
Although the unexpected defeat over the weekend was a setback, USC remains recognized as one of the top teams in the country.For Ohio State, this week presents the toughest challenge of the regular season.
So far, every ranked team the Buckeyes have beaten in the Big Ten, except for the Maryland Terrapins, is no longer ranked. Additionally, the victory over the Terrapins was achieved without key guards Shyanne Sellers and Bri McDaniel, raising questions about Ohio State’s ability to perform in high-stakes games this season.Last season, the Buckeyes were defeated by UCLA 77-71, though the final score was closer than the game had seemed in real-time.
Ohio State rallied in the fourth quarter, outscoring UCLA 26-14 to narrow the deficit to just two possessions. However, the Bruins had a commanding 22-point lead at the start of the final period.
