Culver City Observer -

USC and UCLA men’s and women’s basketball teams have reached the half way mark in the super competitive Pac-12 Conference. All four teams are keeping their NCAA tournament hopes alive.

The USC men are 17-5 overall and are tied for second with four other teams with a 6-3 conference record. The USC women are 16-6 overall and tied for fifth place with 4-6 record in the Pac-12.

By next weekend the USC men could be in first place. “We are just trying to get better,” said USC coach Andy Enfield after his win over first place Washington last week. “I have to give our players a lot of credit. They have really come together as a team. The Pac-12 is a very deep conference and every game is a challenge.”

Enfield was glad to see a large home crowd show up for the Washington game. “It’s very hard to win on the road in this league so we try to make it hard on the teams when they come to the Galen Center. It makes a big difference when the crowd is into the game.”

The Trojan men will travel to the Arizona schools on Friday February 12, when they play Arizona State at 5 p.m. and Arizona on Sunday February 14 at 5 p.m. The women of Troy will host Washington on Friday at 7 p.m. and Washington State on Sunday at 4 p.m.

The UCLA men are 13-9 overall and tied for fourth place with a record of 4-5 in the Pac-12. The lady Bruins are 16-5 overall and in second place in the Pac-12 with a record of 8-2.

“We have a bunch of great guys on this team but we need to get nasty,” said UCLA head coach Steve Alford last week. “We also need to be more athletic because teams like Washington, USC and Oregon really give us trouble because they are so athletic.”

The UCLA men will play the Arizona schools on the road next weekend starting with Arizona on Friday February 12 at 7 p.m. and Arizona State on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. The Bruin women will be at home against Washington State on Friday February 12 at 7 p.m. and Washington on Sunday at 11 a.m.