Nonconference play gives teams opportunities to see what works and what does not.
And for the Bruins, lots has been successful.
No. 4 UCLA women’s basketball (10-1, 1-0 Big Ten) will face Long Beach State (0-9, 0-2 Big West) on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion in its last nonconference game of the season. The Bruins are coming off a historic 115-28 victory over Cal Poly, the program’s largest win margin in the NCAA era.
All five UCLA starters reached double digits in Tuesday’s victory, with senior guard Kiki Rice’s game-high 23 points alongside eight rebounds and four assists.
Senior center Lauren Betts recorded her third double-double of the year with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and graduate guard Gianna Kneepkens added 19 points and a team-high six steals.
“The special thing about this group is that everyone’s naturally super selfless. That’s something coach Cori (Close) has had to really teach,” Betts said. “We really want to win together, and we realized throughout the season that we play at our best and at our highest level when we share the ball. Everyone does what they need to do to win.”
The Bruins shot 57.5% from the field against the Mustangs, a notable improvement from their season average of 50.8%. However, UCLA did not see that same success from the charity stripe, as its 69.2% clip – preceded by 61.9% the game prior – is well below its season average of 77.4%.
The record-breaking night included a season-high 19 steals from the Bruins – a considerable step-up from the six they recorded in their Big Ten opener Dec. 7 – and 20 offensive rebounds, just one shy of their season high.
On the other side of the ball, UCLA’s defensive boards doubled Cal Poly’s. Close has reiterated throughout the season that defense is the priority for her squad.
“We had point guard film with coach Cori (Close), and she said two things we really need to focus on to raise the level of defense as a team are to get more 50/50s and come up with more steals and then get more defensive rebounds, so that was a big focus for us today,” Rice said. “We’re getting a lot of deflections – we’re causing disruption in their offense – but we’re not always coming up with the steals. That’s something to really focus on.”
Long Beach’s biggest threat will likely be guard JaQuoia Jones-Brown, who leads the team with 17.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. The Atlanta, Georgia, local’s 42% field goal percentage and 37.5 mark from the 3-point line make her the Sharks’ most efficient shooter at all levels.
However, unlike the Sharks, the Bruins boast multiple double-digit scorers – headlined by six names. UCLA also averages 85.9 points a game compared to Long Beach State’s 50.2.
The Bruins also hold the advantage in rebounds and assists, as well as shooting percentages from the field, the 3-point line and the charity stripe.
Saturday marks UCLA’s last home game until Jan. 3 when it faces USC. As the Bruins enter the final nonconference game of the season, Close emphasized the importance of consistently performing at the standard the team has set for itself.
“I really learned that (gold medal habits) with USA basketball when I coached with them,” Close said. “They’ve won more gold medals than anybody else, but they never talk about that. They only talk about gold medal habits. I want to talk to our team all the time about championship habits.”
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