Saturday, at 7 p.m. PT, USC welcomes UCLA to Galen Center for a game that’ll be about more than just bragging rights.

The 21st-ranked Trojans (20-4, 9-4 Pac-12) are only 2.5 games back of first place in the Pac-12, but also just one game separates them from sixth-place Washington State. USC will look to hang onto a Round 1 bye for the conference tournament, but beyond that the NCAA Tournament resume could use some padding.

The Trojans have just one Quad 1 win on the season. Despite already sitting on 20 wins in a major conference and holding an NET ranking in the 20s, they’re looking at a potential 7-seed in The Big Dance. A season sweep at the hands of Stanford and closer-than-expected showings against Cal, Arizona State, and Pacific in recent weeks have the Trojans looking a little shaky.

But against the 12th-ranked Bruins on Saturday, USC will have a chance to turn narratives around. Beating the Bruins would give USC another Q1 win and a marquee showing. It would mark the fifth straight victory for the Trojans in the series, something that hasn’t been done since the 1940s.

As such, the anticipation around the game is incredibly high. USC announced this week the game was officially a sellout. Players on Friday didn’t shy away from the stakes.

“It’s definitely the biggest game of the year,” Trojan guard Ethan Anderson said, per The OC Register’s Adam Grosbard. “We need to prove it to everybody else and to ourselves that we can beat a ranked team.”

Arizona is the only ranked opponent the Trojans have played so far this season. Saturday’s game will be the first of three such games the Trojans will play over the final seven of the regular season.

It’s a chance for USC to heat up at the exact right time.