UCLA Women's Basketball: Cori Close Identifies Which USC Player Most Concerns Her

Their rematch is slated for tonight.

Your UCLA Bruins women's basketball program is bringing an unblemished, 14-0 record to bear against the 12-1 USC Trojans tonight, in a rematch of their 71-64 victory over USC on December 30th.

Per sixth-year UCLA head coach Cori Close, it is ex-Harvard graduate student guard McKenzie Forbes, not All-Pac-12 junior center Rayah Marshall or high-scoring freshman phenom JuJu Watkins, who is the most dangerous opposing player, per Thuc Nhi Nguyen of The Los Angeles Times.

“Really good facilitator, good passer, high IQ and I think that for them, she’s been a connector,” Close raved when discussing Forbes' ability. “And I think same with [Kayla] Padilla too. … [Forbes’] ability to stretch the floor and space it for both Rayah Marshall as well as JuJu, I think those two have been really, really important.”

Forbes, who's already been named a National Player Of The Week once last month, chipped in 23 points during the two clubs' December meeting at Pauley Pavilion. 

On the season, the six-footer is averaging 13 points on .426/.365/.682 shooting splits, 3.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 0.8 steals across USC's 13 games thus far (all starts).

The matchup tips off at 2 p.m. PT tonight in the Galen Center.