2024 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Preview, How to Watch and Game Thread: #2 Seed UCLA Bruins vs. #3 Seed LSU Tigers

Mar 30

Kiki Rice is one of the many Bruins that will need to step up for UCLA to advance. (Photo credit: Caren Nicdao/uclabruins.com)

Now for the hard part.

The UCLA Bruins have so far done what was expected of them in the NCAA Tournament, albeit not in the most satisfying fashion. The Bruins survived the opening weekend, with an emphasis on survive given how their second round matchup with Creighton went. UCLA looked completely unprepared for what Creighton wanted to do for most of the first half and continually went to a more guard-oriented approach instead of pounding away inside with their trump card Lauryn Betts. Thankfully, in the second half the Bruins finally locked in defensively (keyed by subbing Londynn Jones out for Gabriela Jaquez and Cam Brown) and Kiki Rice went on an absolute tear to push the Bruins over the finish line and into the Sweet Sixteen.

The road is only going to get tougher, as UCLA now has to face the defending national champion LSU Tigers. The Tigers have been in the news a lot these past few weeks, though not so much because of their play but because of their head coach Kim Mulkey. I’m not going to litigate Mulkey’s whole deal (the simple version is that she’s a bit of a garbage person) but she is a great coach, which usually doesn’t bode well for teams coached by Cori Close. I said last year that Coach Close needed to prove that she could rise to the occasion when she can’t simply out-talent her opponent, and this weekend is the crucible through which she will be tested. I don’t think it is crazy to say that UCLA is the most talented team of the four remaining in this section of the bracket, but Coach Close might also be the most suspect coach of the four remaining coaches, so it feels pretty even.

From an in-game perspective, the gameplan for UCLA is pretty simple: find a way to slow down Angel Reese on the inside, and limit the fouls. Reese has not been as dominant as she was during the Tiger’s NCAA Tournament run last season but she’s still been really good when healthy, and she’s as close to full health as one could reasonably expect to be at this point in the season. Reese is a rebounding force on the interior, and has developed some solid technique on the inside, so Lauryn Betts will have her hands full defending her (one positive: Reese is not an outside threat, so Betts will be able to sag down and help protect the rim, which is UCLA’s preferred method of defense). LSU supplemented their talent by bringing in Hailey Van Lith from Louisville, and the guard has provided steady play from the outside while leading the team with 3.6 assists per game.

Fouls will be a big thing to monitor as well. LSU is one of the nation’s best when it comes to drawing fouls, while UCLA does not get to the line nearly as much. While I assume you could explain part of that by pointing out the conferences that both teams play in, it does speak to how UCLA is not great at attacking the paint while LSU would much rather do that than shoot from the outside (the Tigers are a collective 32.1% three-point shooting team this year).

Again, I would point out that UCLA seemingly has answers for everything that LSU wants to do. They have a ready-made counter to Reese with Betts, while they can throw Charisma Osbourne, Kiki Rice, and Gabriela Jaquez at LSU’s bevy of strong guards. The scoring will need to improve, especially from the guards (Londynn Jones has had a forgetful NCAA Tournament so far, while Osbourne has been wildly inefficient for much of it), but this game should come down to whether Coach Close can push the right buttons to get UCLA the win. Another Sweet Sixteen loss will only raise more questions about what the ceiling of this program will be going forward.

This is your UCLA women’s basketball vs. LSU Tigers game thread. Here’s how to watch, listen and stream today’s game:

2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Second Round

Teams: #2 seed UCLA Bruins (26-6) vs. #3 seed LSU Tigers (30-5)
When: 10:00 am PT, Saturday, March 30, 2024
Where: MVP Arena, Albany NY
TV: ESPN2
Live Stream: WatchESPN and the ESPN App
Radio/Audio
Online: uclabruins.com with Dave Marcus

Go Bruins!!!

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