On Saturday evening, the USC women’s basketball team suffered an 80-46 blowout loss to crosstown rival UCLA. With the defeat, the Trojans fell to 10-4 on the 2025-2026 season and 2-1 in Big Ten play.
What did we learn from the game? Here are a few key takeaways:
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That was ugly
There is no other way to put it: That game was ugly. Losing by 34 points to any opponent is bad enough. But to do it against your crosstown rival is particularly brutal.
Shooting disparity
UCLA shot 53% from the field and 84% from the free throw line. For USC, it was 27% and 50%. Those are what Josh Pate would call “padlock stats”—where if you told them to someone the day before the game, he or she would be able to correctly predict the outcome fairly easily.
Dominated on the glass
On top of outshooting the Trojans, UCLA recorded 46 rebounds to USC’s 26. Plain and simple, when your opponent records 20 more rebounds than you do, you are not going to win very many games.
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This team has a clear ceiling
USC is by no means a bad team this season. But as this game—along with the Trojans’ losses to South Carolina and UConn—showed, the 2025-2026 Women of Troy have a clear ceiling. USC should still win plenty of games and should easily make the NCAA Tournament, but this group does not look capable of contending for a national championship.
Up next
The Trojans return home to Galen Center to take on Oregon on Tuesday night. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. Pacific time on Big Ten Network.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Takeaways from USC women’s basketball’s 80-46 loss to rival UCLA
