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When a season is essentially over by the midway point, fans need a reason to get emotionally invested while players look for motivation beyond a postseason berth. For the woefully-disappointing USC and UCLA basketball teams, bragging rights is everything.https://twitter.com/UCLAMBB/status/1750627892437110873
And when the official NCAA Tournament brackets are unveiled in March, it might be the only thing the winner of this year's head-to-head rivalry has left. Bruins standout Adem Bona touched on the enduring significance of this battle for the City of Angels.
“It’s a historical rivalry,” the defensive powerhouse said ahead of Saturday's road matchup versus the Trojans, per the program's X account. “Everybody that has come into UCLA knows about the rivalry. And I know all of us are looking forward to the games, especially the guys who are from L.A., from out here.”
“It’s a historical rivalry. Everybody that has come into UCLA knows about the rivalry. And I know all of us are looking forward to the games, especially the guys who are from L.A., from out here.”
Sophomore Adem Bona, speaking about the UCLA-USC rivalry pic.twitter.com/iVqsGLJQc4
— UCLA Men’s Basketball (@UCLAMBB) January 25, 2024
UCLA basketball fans didn't expect the USC game to look like this
Each team sits at 8-11 on the season, with madness infecting each fan base well before March. With USC welcoming in the star duo of Isaiah Collier and Bronny James, and UCLA finding considerable success in the international prospect pool, this was supposed to be a high-stakes showdown between two of the best teams in the conference.
Instead, the schools are ending the final chapters of their Pac-12 hoops rivalry with a whimper. Nevertheless, Adem Bona and the rest of UCLA basketball knows how satisfying it would be to leave the Galen Center with a victory this weekend.
The energy will still reach rabid levels, as James continues to be one of the bigger draws in the sport. But Bona, who is averaging 12.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and 1.3 steals per game, should be unfazed. He and the Bruins are desperate not to sink further down the conference standings.
Celebrating on their foe's home court would make a technically irrelevant contest quite meaningful for all of Westwood Plaza. Tip-off is Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.
