Our seats from media row for #12 Nebraska’s game against USC at the Galen Center.
Behind the Scenes – Galen Center/Pauley Pavilion
Hello everyone and welcome into the fourth installment of our Travel Journal series, where we give you a behind-the-scenes look at our experiences covering Nebraska on the road. Today, we have a double feature – the LA swing against USC and UCLA!
I had been mulling over this trip since the schedule was released in the late fall. Given the timing of late February/early March, it seemed like a perfect time to get out of the cold Nebraska winter and head out for a mini-vacation out west. After the Huskers took down Creighton, my father said he’d like to join and we finalized details and booked the flights. We were hopeful that Nebraska would be in the middle of a heated bubble race…little did we know!
Our flight left Omaha mid-day, right around 3:00pm. I hadn’t realized how long of a flight this was until I remembered that we’re crossing not one, but two time zones. Thankfully it was a direct flight, so nothing a little nap couldn’t get me through.
Exiting our flight after landing in Los Angeles!
We landed in Los Angeles around 5:30pm local time, right at sunset. I’d flown into LAX one time before, nearly a decade ago – and I can tell you, I definitely didn’t remember how long it took to get from the plane to our luggage. LAX is obviously a huge airport, but we did something I’d never done before…we took a five minute shuttle bus all the way to the luggage claim area.
Our first view of the Los Angeles sunset…on the shuttle bus back to luggage claim area.
After what seemed like an eternity of walking through hallways, we finally got to the luggage claim. Not entirely sure how, but our bags beat us there…a pleasant and timely surprise! We grabbed our suitcases and made our way over to the pickup area, where we boarded a shuttle that took us to our rental car.
After yet another long transit, we arrived and got all the necessary paperwork done before making our way to the hotel. We booked a Toyota Volvo – big enough to carry our things, and efficient enough to not spend a fortune on $4.50 gas while driving around town.
Our rental car – nothing fancy, but definitely got the job done!
Only one more trip left – getting to the hotel. We found a sweet deal that included free dinner drinks and an insane breakfast each morning at the Embassy Suites by the airport. I hadn’t stayed in one for a while, but I remembered them having beautiful lobbies…I remembered correctly.
The lobby of the Embassy Suites – our landing spot for the next few days.
We got everything taken care of on the front end and parked our rental car in the underground parking lot. It took around an hour and a half to get from the plane to our hotel, all things considered…and the hotel is no more than ten minutes travel time from LAX. A bit frustrated (but relieved to be done), we headed up to our room and settled in for a moment. Each of us unloaded our bags and tried to make the room as comfy as we could for the next four days.
After finding a second energy, we headed to the hotel bar downstairs to make use of our free drink coupons while discussing what our next move was. One of our favorite things to do is finding a local eatery to indulge in on every trip – and we lucked out, locating a pizzeria no more than 1,000 feet from our hotel called Antonio’s Artisan Pizza. We finished our drinks and headed out into the LA night.
It was a short lived walk, as we made it to our destination in a matter of minutes. I will say, it was the coziest two minute walk a native Nebraskan could ever experience in late February…a cool 70 degrees!
Pops and I decided to order a supreme pizza, originally a to-go order…but then we remembered that Husker baseball was in the middle of a dogfight against Auburn. We changed course and decided to eat at the restaurant while listening to the radio feed of the baseball game from Huskers.com. For those that listened, the game was a stressful endeavor – but the good guys got it done in extra innings! Dad and I celebrated while chowing down on some damn good pizza.
Our pizza from Antonio’s – it tasted even better than it looked!
After eating, we headed back to our hotel room and got ready to crash. The USC game was at 1:00pm local time, and we had a 30 minute commute ahead of us tomorrow morning. With gaining two hours, falling asleep around 10:00pm wasn’t much of an issue.
Our alarms went off and it was officially USC game day. Since our body clocks were still unadjusted, we were both awake and lively around 6:30am. After I got some twitter work done in the morning, we headed across the street to a local shop to get our fridge filled with some drinks for the stay. We grabbed a couple gallons of water, some mountain dew baja blast, and headed back to the room to prepare for departure.
Our first pitstop of game day number one, Purdy’s Liquor – stocked to the brim with snacks and drinks.
I packed my things and shoved it all into my backpack before heading down to the car. I was the assigned driver for the majority of the trip, which I actually enjoy doing if I’m being honest. We loaded up, exited the underground garage, and got on our way.
This is when I got my first taste of LA traffic. Thankfully for my pops, I never suffer from road rage – so it really didn’t bother me at all. It was certainly a bit annoying to have a 35 minute commute for a 15 mile drive, but that just comes with the territory and wasn’t unexpected.
A snapshot of our drive as we entered the USC campus area – the trees that line the street were a beautiful touch.
After some bumper-to-bumper traffic, we pulled into the parking garage by the arena about two hours before tip. I had a college buddy that flew into LA that morning to go to this game, so we met him at a bar that just so happened to be right next to the arena.
It wasn’t super packed when we got there, but there was a much heavier Husker presence than I had expected. Once we got within an hour of tipoff, you could tell – this was going to be a Husker home game.
The bar we went to pregame – The Lab Gastropub – roughly two hours before tip. A patio beer in the 75 degree sun…are you kidding me?
The same bar, about an hour before we left. Husker home game incoming!
We headed across the street to the Galen Center to soak in the arena before the game. With having media credentials, I had to go through a separate gate than my father – so we temporarily split while I got my bearings about me in the media areas of the building.
The front facade of the USC Basketball’s home arena, the Galen Center.
I got checked in through the media gate and headed into the media room. A lot of places say they offer food and drink for media, and if not, typically offer a voucher for the concessions stand. I’ve been to more than a few road locations now, and the food part usually never ends up happening (or I don’t pursue it enough to care…that could be too). The Galen Center, however, treated us right with a grilled chicken, rice and beans, neatly plated in a to-go box. I grabbed a Coca-Cola to go with my meal and made my way to the seating area.
A snapshot of USC’s media interview room.
The path to the court was very unique – they sent me through a bunch of hallways that featured really neat lighting as I walked by locker rooms for the men’s and women’s volleyball team. I had no idea what to expect of this experience, but it was definitely starting out on a great foot.
One of the cool hallways I went through to get to the arena floor.
I dropped all of my belongings off at my media seat and headed down to the court to watch pregame warmups. This is always one of my favorite parts of these experiences – getting to sit courtside and watching the Huskers get ready for the game, no more than three feet away.
I watched the guys go through pregame shooting warmups, seeing of them take a handful of threes from the right corner. Two things always amaze me during these sessions; one, how huge these guys actually are…and two, how good they are. I watched everyone hit triple after triple, but one guy really stood out to me with his shooting prowess – Justin Bolis. Mark my words, that guy has serious potential.
Sam Hoiberg, shooting a triple in pregame warmups.
Pryce Sandfort shooting corner threes in pregame warmups. Genuinely, one of the best shooters I’ve ever seen.
After watching the guys prep for about twenty minutes, I met up with my old man to walk the concourse and explore the arena a bit. We made a quick lap and listened to the USC pep band play their iconic fight song – it’s one of the best in all of college athletics. The arena isn’t super huge, only seating around 10,000 at max capacity – but it felt a lot bigger in the concourse, as there was plenty of room to navigate. I was huge fan of the arena layout…very underrated facility.
One of the concourse hallways of the Galen Center – a simple, yet good looking setup.
With about ten minutes to tip, I headed over to my seat to finish my pregame meal and get ready for tipoff. The arena had to only have 4,000 people or so, but I’d guess around 1,800 of them were Husker fans – and they made it known who they were cheering for. The lights dimmed for the USC starting lineups and it was almost go time. The Trojans ran out of the tunnel after each was announced as starter…a very unique and somewhat odd way of doing it. Regardless – it was time for basketball!
Our view from media row – a great seat and a very underrated arena!
The Huskers and Trojans started the game by trading buckets back and forth. Nobody pulled away for the first eight minutes, but you could tell that USC was playing for something with the effort they were showing. Sam Hoiberg picked up his second foul with twelve minutes left in the game…and the Trojans took full advantage, going on a 26-16 run to carry a five point lead into the halftime break.
At the break, I heard someone shout “Blake” as they were walking up the stairs. In a daze from being focused on my computer, I looked up to try to locate where the call came from. I looked over to see none other than Kellan Schmidt of the Nebrasketball Podcast.
I’ve gotten to know Kell and Sutt well over the past few years, as they were a huge inspiration to the Scarlet Shootaround ever getting off the ground. I had listened to them for years before we ever started our own podcast, and have always respected the hell out of them for sticking to what they did for all of the miserable years of Nebraska basketball from 2015-2022. I was one of their passionate listeners!
After chatting and catching up for a few minutes, we headed up to the concourse to snap a quick photo. Of all the people I would’ve expected to see, he definitely was not one of them!
Kellan Schmidt of the Nebrasketball Podcast and myself pose for a photo in front of of the Galen Center floor – an inspiration of ours!
I made my way back to my seat for the start of the second half. A slight feeling of fear was starting to kick in, very similar to the Minnesota game which Mike and myself covered a few weeks ago. That said, I – and the Huskers – remembered that they’re a second half team. They stormed out of the halftime break to the tune of a 35-10 run, completely shattering any hope USC had of winning the game. I’m not sure why I was surprised, but it still is shocking to see how dominant this Nebrasketball team can be at times.
The game ended and Justin Frommer (Hastings Tribune), Nick Sehnert (93.7 The Ticket) and myself scrambled to get to the tunnel for post game interviews. We didn’t have direct instructions on where to go – whether there was an assigned room for this or not, what time it was going to be, or anything. We just hung out in the tunnel near the locker room, waiting to see what was going to happen next.
After about ten minutes, Pryce Sandfort and Sam Hoiberg came out to chat with the media…and by media, I mean us three and a swarm of Big Ten cameras. The guys posted up individually against a white wall and we started firing away. I was scrambling to try to hold my laptop (with questions and prompts I wanted to ask) as well as my phone (recording the session to upload to YouTube later). It was a bit of a mess, especially since I didn’t have a tripod yet – but we made it work. The Scarlet Shootaround had never had access like this before, and it was a really cool experience to get to ask multiple questions to the guys in a professional setting.
Pryce Sandfort, answering a question in the USC postgame media session after scoring 32 points.
Fred Hoiberg then made his way over to the media session and answered a few questions after the players. He was enthusiastic about the rebounding effort, and mentioned that it had been an emphasis coming into this game.
After postgame interviews wrapped up, I linked up with my father again and we made our way out to the car. I got our postgame story up on the website after the game, and I wanted to prioritize getting the postgame media sessions uploaded onto YouTube as soon as I could, knowing that Hail Varsity nor Robin Washut – the normal postgame media uploaders – weren’t there. We got to the car and after about thirty minutes of horrificly slow uploading, everything was up and the work for the game was completed.
An empty Galen Center following Nebraska’s 82-67 win over the Trojans.
My dad and I celebrated the win on the way back to the hotel. This was such a big game for many reasons – but most importantly, it was going to keep spirits high over the two day break between games. Nebraska coaches, players and fans could relax for the next few days as they awaited their next test at UCLA.
A scenic shot of the drive back to our hotel from the Galen Center.
We got back to our room around 6:00pm and took a deep breath, watching some of the other basketball games that were on during the evening window. As the day’s end was approaching, I decided to run out and get us another local eatery of choice – In-N-Out! I hadn’t had a burger from there in eight years, and when I saw one only a mile away, there was simply no other choice. I made the quick drive over and waited in line behind thirty cars for twenty minutes before getting our order and heading back.
In-N-Out, one of Los Angeles’ most famous chain restaurants. It didn’t disappoint!
We chowed down on our burgers before pops headed to bed. Knowing that I had a lot of work to do for podcast prep the next day, I stayed up until roughly midnight getting some legwork done on my notes. It was one of the smartest things I did all trip – it made the next morning way less stressful. Once I could hardly keep my eyes open anymore, I turned the lights off and headed to bed.
I woke up the next morning around 7:00am and went straight to finishing my notes for the podcast, scheduled to record later that day. I put my head down and chopped wood, getting everything completed by around 9:30am.
Working on getting my notes done prior to recording the podcast – it’s a lot more work than you’d think!
We met joined up with Justin Frommer (great friend of ours – check him out!) for our USC recap segment, and he was fantastic as always. Mike and I finished recording over the next hour and at that point, most of the hard work was done by around 4:00pm. Then it was onto our next excursion – the Clippers/Pelicans game!
Dad and I quickly grabbed our things and headed over to the Intuit Dome for the 6:00pm local tip. We parked a few blocks away and walked toward the arena in the beautiful 70 degree evening weather. Pictures don’t do it justice – this is one of the most modern looking and feeling arenas I’ve ever seen.
The Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers.
One thing that really fascinates me about some of the sports venues in Los Angeles is the fact that they’re open-air arenas – there isn’t any kind of door between the front entrance and the arena itself. Weird to consider as a Nebraskan, but when you have year-round 70-90 degree weather…you can do things like that.
The concourse inside (technically, outside) of the Intuit Dome.
Now, visually the place is stunning; but the arena amenities and procedures are so futuristic that it’s almost dystopian. There was a HUGE line to get into the arena through a facial recognition scan. Somehow, you can get in with a face scan through your Intuit Dome app I guess? That was only the beginning. Pops and I headed over to the old fashioned ticket scanner (where there was no line whatsoever, ironically) and hopped right into the arena with no holdup.
We walked around the lower concourse to get a feel for how the arena was setup. The modern architecture was stunning. It was about twenty minutes to tip, and we wanted to grab some drinks and snacks. The concessions areas had a fascinating setup – each location was like its own walk-in store with everything ala carte, sorted in sections where you just grab what you want. The trick is, you scan your face and tap your credit card so it’s tied to your facial recognition. At that point, just grab whatever you want and just leave the shop. Literally, just leave. It will somehow scan everything you grabbed and automatically charge the card you tapped before you entered.
I’ve never seen anything like it.
The concessions store in the Intuit Dome.
We headed to the escalators filled with astonishment. For as modern as we thought Pinnacle Bank Arena is, it doesn’t even hold a candle to what the Intuit Dome had. Just incredible…and it wasn’t over yet.
We took our seats in the upper bowl. They weren’t necessarily close to the court, but they didn’t need to be – because the jumbotron was shaped in an oval, providing a movie-like screen for viewing everything on the court. They’d show four different camera angles during replays, which I thought was a really cool feature.
Our seats in the upper bowl for the Clippers/Pelicans game…the scoreboard is unreal!
We got to halftime and the screen was showing some kind of virtual interactive candy crush game. It instructed us to hit color coded buttons on our arm rest to add colored candies to the screen. We didn’t really know how it worked, but sure enough – my dad hit the yellow button on his seat and his name flashed up on the board with a yellow text. We still have no idea how the hell it knew who he was, especially when he didn’t have his face scanned.
To take it a step further, we noticed that a “Pryce S” popped up on the screen over to our left. With that spelling, we thought it had to be who we thought it was…and we were correct. Just two sections over, we saw Sandfort, Mast, Curtis, Cooper and a few other players that seemed equally as interested in the technology. Small world!
The Clippers ended up winning handily, but we got to see a Bryce McGowens dunk which was worth the price of admission. We both came to the conclusion that it would be hard to follow an NBA team like the Clippers passionately – it just seems like more of an entertainment experience than a true fandom. Not sure if that’s specific to LA or the NBA in general, but we left thinking more about the experience of the game rather than the game itself. That being good or bad is up for debate.
Exiting the Clippers game with the ribbon board claiming victory.
Dad and I trekked back to the car and headed for the hotel. Admittedly, this was the worst part of the trip – when I had to sit down and edit the podcast for the next two hours. I got as much of it finished as I possibly could before getting too tired, and crashed around midnight.
If possible, I try to get it all edited and finalized the night before for a 6:00am release, but couldn’t muster the energy. I woke up relatively early at 7:00am local and finished editing the podcast, publishing it around 9:00am local, 11:00am central. The heavy lifting was finally finished!
Monday was going to be a fun, relaxing day. We started by heading down the road to Manhattan Beach. We took a short driving tour around the area, only imagining what the cost of some of those properties would be. Nothing was huge in scope, but all I could think about was how sweet of a life it must be to reside here full time. We pulled into our parking spot around 11:00am and headed straight toward the pier.
I made a rookie mistake, not remembering that the coastline is typically ten degrees colder than what the inland temperature is. I had a little shiver going as we made it out to the end of the pier, but the view was absolutely worth it. I got a really neat snapshot with a seagull flying across the shot. Paid actor maybe?
The view of Manhattan Beach from the pier – just unbelievable.
Walking the sidewalk along Manhattan Beach.
We walked up and got our feet wet (just to say we did it) and walked the beach for about a half mile, surrounded by others enjoying the March weather. Bikers, runners, walkers, we saw it all. Some of the walkways between residences was absolutely beautiful as well, which I frankly didn’t even think would’ve existed.
We turned around and started heading back to the main area near our parking spot, looking for a spot to stop for lunch. We decided on a place called Bar88, where dad kept it light with sweet potato fries and I got a cajun pasta. Lunch with a view of the beach and ocean is hard to beat.
Our lunch at Bar88, on the edge of Manhattan Beach. Not sure I’ve eaten with a better view!
Now it was time to do some sight-seeing! We hopped in our car and headed south toward Rancho Palos Verdes, a higher vantage point of the ocean and greater Los Angeles. We didn’t really have a final destination in mind, but just went where the road took us. We stumbled across a scenic viewing spot. I’m serious when I say, it might be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
On the way back to the beach, we needed to refuel…and there just so happened to be a Starbucks right next door. I had to take the moment to be an LA influencer for just a second.
The view along the ocean from a scenic stop just South of Los Angeles.
Best Starbucks order I’ve ever made.
It was a beautiful drive back down to the city with vistas that stretched all the way to the mountains on the other side of the town. Just incredible. Some people see these views every single day and it just boggles my mind.
We stopped at Target to pickup a tripod after the USC presser debacle video, then headed over to a casino next to our hotel called Hollywood Park. It was one of the most unique casinos I’ve ever been in – there were no slots, it was relatively quiet, half the floor was poker tables, and there was a $1 vig on all hands played of cards. Dad and I decided to split a buy in and try to make a quick $50 a piece.
Hollywood Park Casino…no slots, peace and quiet, and a ton of poker!
We pulled a quick hit and run, making $80 over three hands and colored up. It was definitely one of the more unique casino experiences I’ve had – a guy could read a book in the building, it was so quiet!
We drove by the nearby SoFi Stadium, right next door to Hollywood Park. We didn’t go inside, but you didn’t really need to – because like the Intuit Dome, everything is open air! The surrounding areas by the stadium were gorgous, with walking trails, ponds, and amazing views of the facility all around it.
SoFi Stadium – one of the most unbelievable sports venues in the world.
The afternoon was coming to a close, and we made our way back to the hotel. After lounging around and relaxing for a bit, we decided to go get a bite to eat at Dave and Busters, coupled with some side entertainment. I took on my old man in all kinds of different games, but the story of the session was my dad playing Deal or No Deal; he ended up taking the banker’s offer with three cases left, just to be shown that he had the grand prize in his case. Of course!
Pops taking on a modern version of Pac Man!
After killing an hour or two, we called it a night and went back to headquarters. We hopped in the elevator and headed to the 5th floor, where our room was located. On the way up, the elevator stopped on floor 3 and we expected to have other people hopping in the elevator. It ended up not being a person…but a robot. Welcome to LA.
An unexpected guest on our elevator ride!
We woke up and it was officially game day against UCLA! Tip-off wasn’t scheduled until 8:00pm local, so we had a ton of time to kill before the game. Since we explored the south side of Los Angeles yesterday, we decided to explore the northern side today. We’re both history buffs, so the easy choice of entertainment on Tuesday morning was the Reagan Presidential Library, right in that area. We hopped in the car and away we went.
Breakfast of Champions on UCLA gameday morning!
The drive took about an hour, but it was a very interesting trek. The first 15 minutes was traveling through the cityscape, actually driving right by UCLA on the way. After that, we headed into a mountainous area with huge hills and wide vistas. As someone that’s used to seeing cornfields on long drives, it really struck me how different the regions of Southern California are.
We pulled up to the library around 11:00am. The building had Spanish architecture, spanning a huge distance over the vista it sat on. We read almost all of the text prompts as we went through, taking our time (again, with a ton of time to kill). The coolest part of the library was a section that featured an actual former Air Force One, used by Reagan and a few presidents after him. We got to walk through both the plane and that era’s version of the Marine One. Easily one of the best historical tours I’ve had the chance to experience.
The view from the back patio of the Reagan Presidential Library.
Air Force One and Marine One, featured exhibits at the Reagan Library!
After killing most of the early afternoon going through the library, we began making our way to the Pauley Pavilion on UCLA’s campus. We strategically took a scenic route to get there, plotting a path down Highway 1 and through Malibu. Everyone says this is one of the most gorgeous drives the US has to offer, so we couldn’t miss it.
The route took us right through the mountain range before dumping us off right onto the highway. We hadn’t thought about it at the time, but we were surprised to see many of the beachfront properties either dilapidated or with nothing remaining but the foundation. A quick google search reminded us that the Palisades fires were only a year ago, and the community was having a very difficult time rebuilding for miscellaneous reasons…a sad story to what was still a beautiful drive.
The Malibu coastline while driving toward Los Angeles on Highway 1.
We took a neat path through some densely-forested roads before arriving at UCLA’s campus. The parking structure was completely underground, just north of the arena – a pretty unique feature. We arrived two hours before the game, so we walked around campus for short while before stopping into the campus bookstore.
The front entry of the Pauley Pavilion.
With about an hour before tip, we entered the arena and got situated. I headed to my media seat to drop off my bookbag and materials before heading down to watch pregame warmups from courtside. As I got down there, I saw Justin again…and Robin Washut! It was great to see that he made the trip.
I’ve said this every time we’ve done this, but it always surprises me how big these guys actually are, and how fast some of them get their shot off – especially Pryce. It can be mesmerizing to watch at times.
Pryce Sandfort getting shots up in pregame warmups.
The media members watched warmups until roughly 30 minutes until tip, we all headed up to the concourse to scout out a pregame meal. Pauley Pavilion is extremely unique in that they have a portion of the concourse that is actually outside…following the trend of LA sports venues being open air. Beyond the normal concession options, there were foot trucks on this outside concourse serving tacos, ice cream, and other things.
I decided to stick with the basics, getting a cheese dog with some ketchup. I walked a full lap around the concourse before walking down into the media room and looking around. UCLA had the postgame podium in this room as well as plenty of space for photo editing, writing, and everything else that goes into covering the team. I went to sit by my dad for a while, and eventually headed up to my seat before tip.
The indoor concourse at Pauley Pavilion.
The media seats at Pauley were at halfcourt in the second deck. They by no means were bad seats, but were a decent ways away from the action. That said, the setup was great – chargers at each location, name plates at each seat, and pretty spacious in general. That isn’t always the case!
The media room inside the Pauley Pavilion. A clean and spacious setup!
Once returning to my seat, I got everything pulled up as necessary – the live stats, our Twitter feed, ESPN statistics amongst others. They dimmed the lights as the UCLA starting lineup was announced. Go time!
The view from my seat on media row – not very close, but a great vantage point!
As everyone knows, the game didn’t go well for Nebraska whatsoever. They found themselves in a double digit hole right out of the gate, as they couldn’t find bucket from anywhere – from three, from two, or from the stripe. As bad as the first half was, the Huskers were only down 13 – we’ve seen them come back from larger deficits…not to mention, they’ve been a stellar second half team.
Well…the second half team did NOT have a great second half. They cut the deficit to ten before UCLA had a five point play, scoring while a foul was called to maintain possession. At that point, the game was basically out of reach. Nebraska couldn’t get a late run and ended up getting blown out by twenty, their worst loss of the season. As fun as the USC game was – this was as equally not fun.
Shortly after the final buzzer, our little media contingent made our way down to the hallway nearest the visiting locker room. I had come prepared this time with my tripod – I rushed to get the thing setup properly and we waited for Fred and players to come into the media session.
Fred came out first. He really didn’t have much to say, outside of the fact that it was a really poor performance. He didn’t come up with excuses, he didn’t try to answer why the play was poor – he just stated that it wasn’t good enough.
Next up was Rienk Mast, who shared the same sentiment as Fred – but added that the team wasn’t going to look much into this, refocusing. on senior day against Iowa. He highlighted the team’s poor start and lack of focus on defense as the main contributors to the loss.
Fred Hoiberg, in the postgame media session after Nebraska’s loss to UCLA.
After media sessions ended, I packed up, grabbed my things, and headed out to the car. Our postgame tweet already had 50+ responses…I remember thinking to myself, ‘Oh god.” I took one more moment to soak in the entire experience before meeting up with pops at the car.
A shot of the Pauley Pavilion, shortly after Nebraska’s loss to UCLA.
Dad and I drove back to the hotel vastly disappointed in the performance, but remembered that the goal on this trip was always 1-1. UCLA was a great team at home, and Nebraska just couldn’t make a shot. Nights like this happen – albeit, it hadn’t happened to the Huskers until now, in March. We agreed – not concerned about the performance, but concerned with the timing.
We packed up everything and got ready for our early flight in the morning. On the way to the airport, we reflected on what a fantastic trip this turned out to be – the weather was great, the arenas were fantastic, the beach was amazing, and at least one of the games went well for the Huskers. I fully plan on making this trip every other year…not many reasons not to!
We boarded our flight and got back to Omaha around 3:00pm. Pops dropped me off at my car, we split ways, and I immediately began prepping for our Iowa preview episode. Life comes at you fast!
Trying to get some work done at the airport – the grind never seems to stop!
And that wraps it up! As always, we want to thank you all so much for your support over the last two and a half years. This has turned into so much more than we ever could have imagined, and we owe all of that success to you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for listening and following us here at the Scarlet Shootaround! We’ll always stive to provide you with the best fan-focused coverage we possibly can.
We appreciate you tuning into this entry of our travel journal series – see you in the next one! 🫡