The No. 1 UConn women's basketball team entered Saturday's matchup against the No. 16 USC Trojans at Galen Center in Los Angeles, looking to notch its 10th win of the 2025-26 college basketball season and staying undefeated.
This game deserves so much attention just for how good both teams are, but it is turning even more heads because of how the Huskies and the Trojans are paying tribute to former Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant and her daughter, Gigi Bryant in the contest.
“To pay homage to Kobe and Gigi Bryant, who would’ve been in her freshman year at UConn, USC and UConn players are all wearing different pairs of Kobe’s for today’s game,” Ryan Kartje of The Los Angeles Times shared via a social media post on X, formerly Twitter, just before the game started.
Gigi had big basketball dreams, just like her father, and she would have likely been playing for Geno Auriemma's Huskies if she were still around. It was no secret that Gigi wanted to play college basketball for the Huskies, as she and Kobe even attended UConn games.
UConn would have been a perfect place for Gigi to further develop her basketball skills, as the Huskies are undeniably one of the greatest basketball programs ever — men's or women's.
The Huskies are the reigning and defending NCAA women's basketball champions having topped the NCAA Tournament in 2025.
As for the Trojans, they started Saturday with a 7-2 overall record and on a four-game winning streak after defeating the then No. 21 Washington Huskies at home on Dec. 7. USC appears to have recovered well from a 1-2 stretch in November, when they suffered losses to the South Carolina Gamecocks and Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and a win over the UConn women's basketball team would be a huge boost to the Trojans' resume.
