Postgame Talk: Elite Eight-Clap for UCLA as the Women Pull Away from Ole Miss 76-62

The Bruins were pretty listless in the first half, but the brilliance of Betts kept the team ahead until the team could put the game away.

Lauren Betts was an absolute force to help UCLA advance to the Elite Eight. (Photo credit: @UCLAWBB)

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It says something about this UCLA team that they could win by 14 points to advance to only the third Elite Eight in program history and I come away feeling underwhelmed.

Such has been the general greatness of this UCLA squad that you can feel this way. The Bruins started the first quarter strong, and then proceeded to sleepwalk through the rest of the first half, a worrying trend that carried over from last week’s game against Richmond. But Lauren Betts was excellent, and in the second half the rest of the squad came alive to support her, allowing UCLA to run out to a double-digit lead they would never relinquish, ultimately winning 76-62 and advancing to the Elite Eight.

Outside of Betts, the Bruins looked uninterested in doing many of the little things that can take a team from being merely good to elite, turning the ball over at an alarming rate and failing to show the necessary effort on the defensive end, especially in regards to rebounding. Ole Miss played like a desperate team, which makes sense, but UCLA never answered the bell in the half. It certainly did not help that Kiki Rice picked up two fouls in the half which limited her effectiveness, but all of the non-Betts Bruins seemed to have issues. In particular, Timea Gardiner continues to struggle in this tournament, while Londynn Jones had a half to forget. I also felt Elina Aarnisalo has been going through a freshman slump at the worst time, and these moments where she is playing extended minutes at the point instead of as a secondary ballhandler have been tough to watch.

Fortunately, the Bruins still have Lauren Betts, and that is a cheat code few teams in the country can hope to match. Betts was a force from the word go, finishing with 31 points on a ridiculous 15-16 shooting from the field. Much like the prior game against Richmond, the Rebels spent most of the game trying all kinds of defensive options to try and slow her down, and none of them worked with any sort of prolonged effectiveness. As the tournament gets deeper, you need your star players to shine bright and carry the team, and Betts is peaking at the right moment.

Outside of Betts, my takeaways are mostly negative. The Bruins lacked focus in the 2nd quarter again, which has been a particular bugaboo this tournament, and from the outside it feel like too many players are trying to rely on their talent to get them through games rather than doing things the right way. UCLA is not showing enough effort on the defensive glass, and they’re not showing enough focus when they have the ball, turning the ball over much too often. They’ve been able to survive the past few games thanks to that talent advantage, but going forward UCLA will not have such a clear talent advantage and will need to tighten things up on both ends. In particular, LSU is the kind of team that can give them fits with their relentless energy.

In fact, it was essentially this same LSU team that knocked the Bruins out last year, so perhaps that drive for revenge will fuel UCLA towards their first-ever Final Four. This will be the best test of the season for Coach Cori Close, as last year Kim Mulkey ran circles around her. Can Close show her own growth and get UCLA one step closer to a national championship? Tune in Sunday to find out.

1st Quarter Observations:

• This game is already going better for the Bruins from a defensive standpoint. Ole Miss is a more traditional offense, which means Lauren Betts is able to sit in the interior and shut things down. The defensive rebounding has been suspect to start, but you can’t complain too much when you’re still erasing everything anyway.

• It’s early going, but my read of this game is that if the Bruins can maintain their focus on the defensive end, they should be able to win comfortably. To that end, UCLA is still getting good defensive possessions with a lineup featuring Jones, Gardiner, and Aarnisalo, which bodes well for the rest of the game.

• The non-Betts minutes are a bit questionable on the offensive end, but when she’s in things are much simpler. Ole Miss is doing a similar thing that Richmond was doing by throwing multiple bodies at her whenever she touches the ball, and she’s been good at recognizing and kicking out to an open shooter when that happens. On the flip side, when the Rebels don’t throw an extra body her way, she’s scoring as efficiently as possible, even when former teammate Christeen Iwuala is guarding her.

• Pretty quick first quarter, good flow and pace compared to what I saw of the previous game between LSU and NC State. The Bruins were efficient from the floor, but they have some things to clean up (rebounding, turnovers) to make this one feel more comfortable.

2nd Quarter Observations:

• Yeah, I’m willing to say that the rebounding is going to be a halftime fix. UCLA just isn’t attacking the glass with the fervor they need, and while Ole Miss hasn’t necessarily capitalized on these extra possessions, it is giving them more bites at the apple.

• Not a good start to the quarter. The offense is stagnating, while the lack of rebounding is giving Ole Miss too many extra chances. That has led to a Rebels squad that is playing with more confidence as a result.

• Ole Miss has not turned the ball over yet halfway through the second quarter. I’m noting this as much to throw a jinx out into the world as I am providing another data point to how passive UCLA is playing on defense.

• The rebounding is so much better when Janiah Barker is in the game. Her athleticism is allowing her to get to the ball quicker than Dugelic and Gardiner, who need more focused positioning to rebound effectively. I’m also happy with Kendall Dudley in her limited minutes, as she’s playing with more aggression than we saw last weekend.

• Elina Aarnisalo has been such a coin-flippy player in the NCAA Tournament. Just this quarter, she made a poor decision to try and throw a full-court pass to Dudley that predictably led to a turnover, but then she made a great pass in the fast break immediately after. And then she makes another good defensive play only to completely whiff on a layup. With Rice sitting with some early foul trouble, you’d prefer that Aarnisalo play with more composure.

• Players having a bad first half: Gardiner, Jones, Aarnisalo. I’ll also throw Kiki Rice in here though her foul trouble has prevented her from establishing a rhythm.

• UCLA is only leading this game at the half thanks to the individual brilliance of Betts. This is the second game in a row where the rest of the team has struggled in the first half, which is a worrying trend given the increase in opponent quality.

• Halftime stats: Ole Miss has 12 offensive rebounds compared to 18 defensive rebounds for UCLA. Bad. Also, eight Bruin turnovers to only one by the Rebels. Betts is also outscoring the rest of the team 16-14.

3rd Quarter Observations:

• Sorry for a lack of notes this quarter - I was cooking dinner for a hungry girlfriend - but right on cue UCLA figured some things out. Londynn Jones and Kiki Rice started hitting shots from the floor, which in turn opened things up for Betts. In addition, the attention to rebounding was improved as well (though still not nearly good enough), allowing UCLA to stretch the lead.

• Interesting as well, Coach Close changed the rotations a bit this quarter, going to Barker as expected but also running with Dudley instead of Gardiner. It makes sense based on their first-half play, but still a bit surprising.

• Not as good: Betts now up to three fouls with 3:14 to go in the quarter. She’s going to have to play a bit more passively this quarter, which plays into Ole Miss’s hands.

• Strong quarter in general, but Ole Miss is sticking around and the Bruins keep seeing their effort fluctuate, especially when the bench comes in the game.

4th Quarter Observations:

• The key to UCLA extending this lead out in the second half has been Kiki Rice. Sure, it helps that Londynn Jones is starting to hit shots, but Rice has been in control for the majority of the half, putting on a similar performance to what we saw against Richmond.

• UCLA has been struggling all game with Ole Miss’s full-court pressure. The Rebels are covering everything, even sideline inbounds, and it has been giving the Bruins fits all game. UCLA seemingly has no idea of how they want to do in these situations, especially if Rice is out of the game. Maybe this is a trait of any UCLA team in 2024-2025.

• Underrated aspect of this game: UCLA has completely neutralized Madison Scott, which I was aware of but did not realize the extent until I looked at the stats and realized Scott was 1-10 from the field late in the 4th quarter. In general, this has felt like a weird defensive game from UCLA, where they’ve played great straight-up defense, but haven’t done many of the little things right.

• Ole Miss has done their best trying to draw offensive fouls on Betts, but they have been a bit over the top on that front, which in the end has led to a lot of easy layups for Betts.

• Lauren checks out with 1:30 or so to go, having missed just as many free throws as she did shots from the field. Just an impressive performance to carry her team through the first half until they could figure things out in the second.

• They didn’t show it, but I’m fairly certain the postgame handshake line was held up because everyone kept wanting to talk to Iwuala. Once a Bruin, always a Bruin.

Go Bruins!

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