Self-destructive. Galvanizing. Disheartening. Confounding. Regardless of how you define the Pac-12, one thing is certain: No outcome is guaranteed. 

The strength of the conference shined last weekend when four ranked Pac-12 teams fell to intra-conference foes. Only one Pac-12 team bears a record below .500 and half of the conference is ranked within the AP Top 25.

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USC (14-4, 4-4 Pac-12) will go head-to-head with another ranked opponent Friday night when they head to the Bay Area to play No. 4 Stanford (19-2, 8-1 Pac-12). 

Having served eight years as the commander of UC Berkeley, USC Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb understands the challenge of surviving the Pac-12 well.

“It makes you better if you can remain mentally tough [and] if you can understand that the road doesn’t get easier, you just have to be better,” Gottlieb said. “Nothing would make me more happy than to get a road win, because those are gold in the Pac-12.”

Following a rigorous road trip in which they played No. 20 Utah (15-6, 5-4 Pac-12) and No. 6 Colorado (17-3, 7-2 Pac-12), the Trojans unexpectedly dropped their first home game of the season Sunday to Washington (13-6, 3-5 Pac-12). They’ve lost three of their last four games and hold a 4-4 record in Pac-12 play.

“The loss isn’t the thing, it’s where you go from there, how you manage it, how you handle it and how you get better. That’s what I’m looking to see us do,” Gottlieb said. “Right now, we’re in the thick of it, and we want to make sure that we take this tough stretch and use it to make us better.”

Although the Trojans have struggled to secure wins in the last couple of weeks, they’ve kept their games competitive down to the final buzzer. 

The Trojans first fell to UCLA in Westwood, which they quickly avenged two weeks later. Their third loss went to Colorado — who’s taken down No. 9 LSU (18-4, 5-3 SEC), Utah and Stanford — when they were edged out by a mere 4 points. Most recently against the Huskies, the Trojans were one questionable foul call away from completing the 11-point comeback. 

“Decide if we want to be normal, decide if we want to be ordinary and be ‘almost there’ or decide if we want to take another step,” Gottlieb said in a postgame press conference. “But in this league, you can’t take any steps unless you take care of the next game in front of you, especially when you’re at home.”

Friday night’s dance with the Cardinal will be the Trojans’ chance to regain momentum as they head into the second half of conference play.

The Cardinal is the top seed in the Pac-12 and is led by Head Coach Tara VanDerveer, whose 1,205 wins crown her as the winningest coach in college basketball history. VanDerveer — one of four coaches ever to win three NCAA titles — has set championship expectations for this year’s Cardinal squad.

“I’ve spent a lot of time across the Bay from [VanDerveer] and … what I’ve learned from her the most is adaptability,” Gottlieb said. “It’s really hard to be good for that long. You need to be open to change [and] you need to be flexible, and I think she’s done that.”

Stanford has proven winners and leaders on the floor as well. Junior forward Kiki Iriafen leads the Cardinal in scoring with 19 points per game. She is one of two Stanford post players to average a double-double, with the other being three-time Pac-12 champion and projected top-five pick in this year’s WNBA Draft senior forward Cameron Brink.

“You can’t let [Stanford] get easy ones in transition — you have no shot if they beat you down the floor,” Gottlieb said. “You have to limit them in transition and try to limit their second chance points, make them score tough ones in the half court and try not to let anyone else get going.”

Junior forward Rayah Marshall will be focused on limiting Brink’s production for the majority of the game. Since missing the Trojans’ home game against UCLA due to an illness, Marshall’s rebounding average has dipped below double digits and she hasn’t scored more than 6 points per game.

Although Stanford has an extensive legacy of success, the team is not insurmountable. Both Utah and Colorado comfortably capitalized off of turnovers and exposed the Cardinal’s challenges in the paint. Thus, the Trojans may have the speed, strength and star power to come out on top.

Freshman guard JuJu Watkins — who’s collected a record-setting 10 Pac-12 Freshman of the Week awards and consistently led the conference in points per game this season — has experienced shooting struggles as of late. Against non-conference teams, Watkins’ shooting percentage is a stout 49.6%, and it’s dropped to 36.4% against teams within the Pac-12. 

Despite Watkins’ ongoing adjustment to the intensity of the Pac-12, her gravitational pull on offense opens opportunities for her teammates.

Graduate guard Kayla Padilla shot 6-9 from beyond the arc Sunday to score her season-high 20 points and to exceed 1,500 career points.

“[Padilla] is a warrior … She’s really smart and really selfless,” Gottlieb said. “She knocked down some huge ones on Sunday, so hopefully we can carry that forward.”

Defeating Stanford will not be an easy feat for the Trojans, but seeing as how 13 Top 25 teams lost last week, there really is no such thing as an upset in women’s college basketball. 

USC will cruise up the coast to play Stanford at Maples Pavilion Friday at 7 p.m. Then, on Sunday, the Trojans will challenge Cal (13-8, 3-6 Pac-12) at Haas Pavilion at noon.