The Stanford Cardinal suffered their worst loss in the conference play on Thursday, but they'll need to regroup and get things together for the UCLA Bruins on a nationally televised game on CBS at the early Pacific time of 11 AM PT/2 PM ET (well, at least on the Western side of the country). UCLA is coming off an incredible victory over Cal where they blew a 14 point lead in 4 minutes (and an eight point lead in about forty seconds). The Bruins are looking to return to the NCAA tournament, and they need to win this one to really have any chance to get to the Dance, according to Bruins Nation. UCLA does not have many games left that are eminently winnable; other than the Oregon and Arizona St. matchups (which they have four of left), the Bruins are expected to either loss or play very competitive games the rest of the way.
As for Stanford, they've weathered the worse of a brutal six game stretch to open Pac-10 play, going 3-3 with an upset of the Washington Huskies and beating down their Bay Area rivals the California Golden Bears. Still, a sweep in LA would be devastating for their still slim postseason chances. The key will be to get their struggling offense going; Stanford is so close to the bottom of the Pac-10 in offensive efficiency, and it's showed on the box score--in five straight games, the Cardinal have not managed to hit sixty points. Thankfully for them, UCLA does not play the type of physical defense teams like the Washington schools and USC puts up, so opportunities for points should be there in Pauley Pavilion.