Postgame Talk: UCLA Cruises to 84-46 Victory over Southern to Begin NCAA Tournament Play
The Bruins rode a strong defensive effort and collective offense to run away from the Jaguars.
The UCLA Bruins opened NCAA Tournament play against an undersized but feisty Southern Jaguars squad, and while things got a bit squirrely in the 2nd quarter, the Bruins were able to cruise to a solid 84-46 victory to start their tourney run.
The opening quarter of the game went as you would expect. Lauren Betts was the focal point of Southern’s defensive gameplan, as you would expect, but the Bruins countered by having everyone else do damage while Betts acted as a decoy. This is not to say Betts did nothing the entire quarter - she went 3-4 for six points - but it was a pretty balanced attack from the Bruins to start, with Gabriela Jaquez, Angela Dugalic, Kiki Rice, Londynn Jones, and Timea Gardiner all getting in on the action. And the UCLA defense was pretty locked in from the start, holding Southern to 5-18 shooting in that first quarter, including limiting them to 1-6 from deep.
The second quarter was more of a mixed bag, as UCLA was able to continue their offensive onslaught, but the Jaguars found some things that worked for them. In particular, the Jaguars took six more shots than the Bruins in the period thanks in part to seven turnovers in the 2nd quarter alone. In addition, the Jaguars really crashed the offensive glass, taking advantage of some general Bruin inattentiveness, grabbing six offensive rebounds in the period alone. The UCLA offense went into its trademark lull this quarter as well, going almost the final five minutes without scoring a basket until Betts put in a layup late.
The third quarter saw the Bruins reestablish order in the game, tripling the scoring output of the Jaguars 21-7. Interestingly enough, UCLA did most of its damage at the free throw line, as Southern got much more physical while playing defense against the Bruins. I said at the time it made sense strategically from the Jaguars - the referees were calling this game based on the score and not based on what was happening on the court - but it did give the Bruins an opportunity to convert at the line and extend the lead, going 11-12 from the charity stripe in the quarter. Meanwhile, the Bruin defense returned with a vengeance, holding Southern to a paltry 3-17 from the field for the quarter, with Southern missing all eight of its three-point attempts.
The fourth quarter was about what you would expect from a 26-point lead. The Bruins maintained and even expanded their lead, but the foot was definitely off the gas pedal; Kiki Rice only played two minutes while Betts only played four, while the Bruins allowed the Jaguars to shoot 40% from the field (it was on 4-10 shooting, so your mileage may vary on how impressive that ultimately was).
After the game, the talk among the team was about their renewed focus in the second half, and you could tell that 2nd quarter performance weighed on Coach Cori Close pretty heavily, as she mentioned it immediately during her opening comments. It’s that attention to detail that is going to carry the team far, especially as they now get ready for an impressive Richmond team on Sunday.
Other general observations:
My biggest takeaway from courtside (besides the general height differential between the teams) is how athletic Janiah Barker is. She’s almost a perfect forward for this team defensively, as she is nearly as big as Lauren Betts but able to fly to the perimeter with ease, and she is great at leading the transition as well. She’s not filling up the bucket, but on this team that’s unnecessary. I want to see her develop more of an outside shot, and if that happens she might become a perfect floormate to Betts (as it was, Coach Close seemed to like playing Betts and Barker together in this game). Still, a double-double in her first NCAA Tournament game as a Bruin has to give her confidence going through the rest of the tournament.
UCLA went to the bench early and often in this game, and there were some intriguing combinations throughout. I already mentioned the Betts/Barker pairing, but we also got one lineup featuring Dugalic and Gardiner that was very interesting from a five-out standpoint. Especially in a game like this, I like the idea of getting some practice with multiple lineup options that you may need to utilize later in the tournament.
UCLA’s size was always going to be a factor in this one, but the defense did some fun stuff in this one, specifically switching on every action Southern tried to run. UCLA’s smallest player, Londynn Jones, was not giving up as much height as usual to the Jaguars, so the decision made a ton of sense given the situation. Richmond has a bit more size (though is still lacking the interior size that makes the Bruins so deadly) so this will be something to monitor on Sunday.
I got to the arena early enough to watch a good majority of the prior game, and UCLA will have their hands full with the Richmond Spiders. Maggie Doogan is a tremendous player, scoring 30 points in the blowout win over Georgia Tech, but they play a smart inside-out game and were pretty solid from three. The Spiders also showed off a good amount of composure; Georgia Tech cut into the lead in the 2nd quarter and looked to have momentum heading into halftime similar to what UCLA saw against Southern, but just like in the UCLA game Richmond responded and put the game away early in the 3rd quarter. UCLA still has that size advantage, but Richmond can give the Bruins a game if they’re not focused.
As Coach Close mentioned to close the postgame presser (teed up by Joe, of course) UCLA fans should do whatever they can to come out and support this team on Sunday. The crowd in Pauley was fairly good for what was likely to be a blowout victory, but this is a tremendous opportunity for the program to showcase itself nationally, and we hope every man, woman, and child makes the trek to Westwood to celebrate what this program has built and cheer them on to victory.
Sunday’s game time is set for 7:00 PM PT. We’ll see you there.
Go Bruins!
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Janiah Barker won the 6th player of the year in the Big10 for a reason. Next year, she should definitely start. Defensive tenacity + experience + super athletic.
I was at the Pauley Pavilion tonight, I got the impression that Barker and Coach Close were in some sort of argument a few minutes before she came out the game in the 4th Qtr. However, she seems to be the X factor for this team. Specially because Southern was heckling Betts everything she came in the paint, which left her on many times open.