In Reply to: The Math Likely Worse Than Many Here Thought. posted by NYBruin on February 04, 2026 at 13:25:05
I've seen several of their games (plus the second half of their game last night after the Bruin game) and on a given night, they can be tough. Tough/physical rebounding with studs 6'10, 235 Cofie and 6'9, 253 Ausar and the 7'4 Dines (7 boards and 3 blocks in 17 minutes against Indiana) and now with Arenas back (he had 29 points and 6 boards last night), I don't expect them be a pushover for UCLA, even if Mazara is still hurt. Not only did they score 81 points against Indiana but out rebounded them by 16, 36 to 20.
I don't doubt that without Mazara's aggressive play and his 18 points a game or more, it will certainly weaken USC on the offensive end (missed half of the game last night after the injury but Wood picked up the slack at PG and scored 18 points).
I'd love a sweep of those guys by the Bruins and I believe the Bruins can do it if they play at the level they are capable of. In USC's last 4 games, beating Wisconsin on the road and losing to Iowa on the road by only 1 point and now beating Indiana, tells me a lot about their capability. They still have Ohio State and Illinois (plus Penn State and Oregon) to get by before they play the Bruins on the 24th. That should tell us a lot more about their capability and how they are adjusting to Mazara's absense if he is out long term. I'm hoping we have Clark back by then (by the Michigan trip for sure) as it should make things a bit easier for the Bruins if he has shaken the rust off.