News Every Day | 02:05

No. 4 USC women come home amid fires to host Penn State

LOS ANGELES — On Wednesday morning, marooned on the opposite side of the country while their side of the country burned, USC women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Gottlieb met with her team and delivered a simple message.

Life goes on.

The Palisades fire was at its peak without a shred of containment, growing larger than 22,000 acres by Saturday morning. The Eaton fire was erupting, rampaging communities in Pasadena and Altadena, fire officials now suspecting it’s damaged or destroyed more than 7,000 buildings. Residents of Los Angeles had lost their livelihoods. Residents of Los Angeles had lost their lives.

And this USC women’s basketball program, featuring five players and various coaches with lifelong ties to the greater L.A. area, was somehow meant to play a game against No. 8 Maryland on Wednesday night on the fourth day of an East Coast road trip.

There ultimately was nothing they could do. And Gottlieb made the point – Maryland wouldn’t play any differently because of the weight USC was carrying back home.

“I think, we’re also just playing with that in the back of our minds,” forward Kiki Iriafen said, after No. 4 USC beat Maryland 79-74. “And, like, understanding we want to come here and also make a statement, and not just come here for no reason.”

They “stayed on that treadmill,” as their head coach said a few weeks ago after USC’s win over UConn, the rallying cry for an inaugural Big Ten season that’s only seen Gottlieb’s program fuse more tightly at every opportunity to splinter. Wednesday night’s victory over previously undefeated Maryland in College Park wasn’t always pretty. But across a 11-game win streak, the Trojans (15-1, 5-0 Big Ten) have won pretty and ugly, surviving a particularly trying initial Big Ten road test.

After Watkins and Iriafen combined for 42 points and USC held an explosive Maryland offense to 36% from the floor, Gottlieb got a text from a USC director of marketing, as she detailed postgame: Your team provided us a good two hours of not thinking about what’s going on.

“I think without really knowing it, that’s what this team does,” Gottlieb said Wednesday night. “We have a perspective that basketball isn’t everything. But when these 40 minutes are in front of us, that it’s everything to us in that moment. And I think that gives people of maybe a sense of, being able to take their mind off harder things, and have some joy.”

Joy will filter back into the Galen Center on Sunday evening, amid the sprinkles of ash falling from the Southern California sky, a program that’s increasingly aligned itself with the heart of Los Angeles returning to take on Penn State (9-7, 0-5) as other sports events across the city fall by the wayside. The Rams’ NFC wild-card playoff matchup with the Cardinals, originally set for Monday at SoFi Stadium, was moved to Arizona. The Lakers’ last two home games have been postponed by the NBA. The Northwestern women’s program, even, canceled its trip to Los Angeles next week to play UCLA and USC.

Penn State Athletics told the Southern California News Group in a statement that discussions about traveling to Los Angeles were held with the department’s medical director, Big Ten administration officials, conference Chief Medical Officer Dr. James Borchers and administration officials from USC and UCLA.

“From those discussions, precautionary measures have been taken and contingency plans for alternative venues have been determined,” Penn State said. “Based on those considerations, the Penn State women’s basketball program will travel to Los Angeles as scheduled and compete in their games.”

Air quality outside the Galen Center is still in the “moderate” safety range, according to an air-quality index tracked by USC. A USC spokesperson, meanwhile, told the Southern California News Group that staff had also placed an air-quality sensor inside the Galen Center and that levels were at a 1 out of a 30 scale as of Saturday afternoon.

As presently scheduled then, Sunday evening will bring a homecoming for Gottlieb’s program – and a breath for reprieve at Galen.