Southern California @ UCLA preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 28, 2019 ) Southern California 88, UCLA 93

USC and UCLA both came away with splits on their Pac-12-opening road trips to the state of the Washington. The two crosstown rivals resume conference play Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA, which bounced back from a head-scratching 77-74 non-conference loss to Cal State Fullerton to upset Washington, 66-64, in its conference opener, almost came home with a sweep, losing to Washington State, 79-71, in overtime with the Cougars needing a clutch 3-pointer from CJ Elleby to send the game into OT. "Guys are kinda hyped for the conference," Bruins guard Chris Smith told the Whittier Daily News. "There is some energy going, and we know this is basically a new season. We're trying to pick it up, keep the energy going, keep the experience up so we can turn it around." USC had a reverse split of its two games, opening with a 65-56 victory at Washington State but then shooting just 20 percent, including 2-of-15 from 3-point range, in an ugly 72-40 loss at Washington. "Not one single player on our team played well offensively," Trojan coach Andy Enfield told the Los Angeles Times. "Everybody can chip in. We win as a team and lose as a team."

TIME: 10 p.m. ET TV: ESPN2

ABOUT USC (12-3, 1-1 Pac-12): The Trojans are still averaging a respectable 72.5 points per game after the nightmarish loss in Seattle and believe the poor shooting was just a blip. "We were hot before this, and we're going to get back to it," said senior guard Jonah Mathews, who is second on the team in scoring (11.7 points per game) and leads the Trojans with 32 3-pointers on 89 attempts (36.0 percent). "We have a lot of shooters on our team." Freshman forward Onyeka Okongwu, the only player to score in double digits (10 points, nine rebounds) in the loss to the Huskies, leads the team in both scoring (17.9) and rebounding (9.2) while senior forward Nick Rakocevic is averaging 11.4 points and 8.7 rebounds.

ABOUT UCLA (8-7, 1-1): First-year UCLA coach Mick Cronin, who stripped away his players' rights to wear "UCLA" on their practice jerseys after the loss to the Titans, allowed his squad to wear their normal UCLA practice outfits after the road split. "For me, that's just about competing," said Cronin. "You've got to have some humility, and you've got to compete. To me, that's No. 1. If you're ever going to have a program that has any type of fiber to be a championship program, you've got to compete and play with pride." Smith is the only player averaging in double figures (12.2) but three other players -- forward Cody Riley (9.7), guard Prince Ali (9.4) and forward Jalen Hill (9.3) -- are knocking on the door, with Hill also grabbing a team-best 7.4 rebounds per game.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. USC's 20 percent shooting at Washington was its worst since shooting 15.9 percent at Oregon on Feb. 3, 1956.

2. UCLA is 8-0 when allowing opponents 73 points or fewer.

3. The Bruins lead the Pac-12 in both rebounding margin (plus-8.67) and offensive rebounds per game (13.3).

PREDICTION: USC 80, UCLA 75