Postgame Talk: UCLA Grinds Out a Sweet Win Against Minnesota, Advances to Elite Eight with 80-56 Victory

The Bruins had a massive game on the defensive end to put away Minnesota and advance to the Elite Eight for the second-consecutive year.

Lauren Betts with one of her five blocks (Photo credit: @UCLAWBB)

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Nobody ever said the road to a national championship was going to be easy.

The story of the UCLA Bruins in this NCAA Tournament has been one of needing to battle. Cal Baptist scratched and clawed throughout the opener. Oklahoma State refused to go away quietly and made the Bruins work for a full forty minutes.

So maybe it should not have been a surprise that the Minnesota Golden Gophers were able to hang with the Bruins as long as they did. Minnesota had a good season and was deserving of a #4 seed, and they have improved tremendously from the team that UCLA beat back in January. Perhaps that familiarity with the Bruins led to the fearlessness that the Gophers played with throughout the game, refusing to be starstruck or letting UCLA extend their lead for any amount of time.

That said, one of UCLA’s value propositions this season is that, over a forty-minute game, their talent level is such that most teams will fade away by the end, and this game was no exception. UCLA’s offense, which spent the first half unable to hit a layup let alone an outside shot, was able to get in gear in the second half and support a defense that was generally exceptional throughout, allowing the Bruins to keep pushing their led higher and higher before finishing with an 80-56 victory, securing their ticket to the Elite Eight in the process.

UCLA’s defense was the story of this game, and rightfully so. The Bruins held Minnesota to 37.9% shooting (22-58) from the field, forcing Minnesota into a lot of tough jump shots throughout and making the Golden Gophers work for their points. Their nine blocks and 11 steals speak to how difficult UCLA made things for Minnesota, with Lauren Betts in particular just an absolute monster on the interior. After the game, Minnesota coach Dawn Plitzuweit talked about how UCLA’s physicality on defense made things a problem for her team, and that was evident for anyone watching.

The defense was not limited to just Lauren, however. While she had five blocks on her own, four other Bruins logged a block, while six Bruins logged steals, led by three steals from Kiki Rice. The defense also helped kickstart the offense, as the Bruins scored 17 points off turnovers (13 on the fast break), which were crucial points for a Bruin offense that struggled at times to generate points in the half-court set.

UCLA’s offense was very much a concern in this one, however. The Bruins finished shooting 52.5% from the field (32-61), which, on its face, is a good result, but anyone watching the game would tell you that the Bruins struggled. At one point in the first half, the Bruins had gone 6-15 on layups, and while the Bruins finished with 52 points in the paint, they likely left so many more points on the floor thanks to some poor shooting at the rim. Their outside shooting was not much better; UCLA finished 4-16 from three-point range, with two of those makes coming from Lena Bilic and Christina Karamouzi. who played a combined 10 minutes. UCLA’s core six went 2-12 from deep, and since the start of the Big Ten Tournament, the Bruins have only crossed the 35% threshold twice in six games. Now, they’re still winning, but we’re getting close to the point where the Bruins will no longer have a margin for error - depending on the results of this Duke-LSU game, that point might be Sunday.

Quick run-through on some stats before I wrap things up. Angela Dugalic put up a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, but two point-blank missed layups are likely going to keep her up late tonight. Kiki Rice was emblematic of the second-half turnaround; she finished with a game-high 21 points, but 15 of those came in the second half. Charlisse Leger-Walker struggled to score, but she put up an assist-to-turnover ratio that would make Mick Cronin blush, finishing with eight assists and only one turnover.

Lauren Betts made a joke during the postgame press conference that the job’s not done and that the Bruins are treating this like a business trip, but I am starting to wonder if that is playing a role in how the team has looked so far. UCLA has not put together a complete game yet this tournament, and too often the team looks tight or hesitant instead of playing free basketball. Perhaps they have not been challenged nearly as much as their #1 strength of schedule would indicate, or perhaps this is a team knowing they have another gear they can turn to when necessary. Regardless, this is a team that needs to figure some things out and in a hurry if they want to achieve those goals.

Here are my game notes:

First Quarter

• Pregame thoughts: I was thinking about a lot of the comparisons between UCLA and UConn that have been made, and one of the points made is that UCLA had the best strength of schedule and went undefeated in the Big Ten, one of the best conferences in the country. However, I’m not so sure that last point stands up to scrutiny at the moment. Only three Big Ten teams made it to the Sweet Sixteen out of the 12 that made the tournament, and while you can’t blame lower seeds like Southern Cal or Nebraska for falling short, the conference did not cover itself in glory. UCLA, Minnesota, and Michigan held serve on their home courts, but the same could not be said for #2 seed Iowa or #3 seed Ohio State. More than a few of those Big Ten teams got run off the court as well, which doesn’t speak well of the supposed strength of the conference. I’m not saying UCLA got an easy road in conference, but I am starting to suspect this team was not as challenged in conference as we were led to believe.

• Early feeling out here, but UCLA’s advantage, as usual, is Lauren Betts. Betts has already hit one long jumper, which should open things up for the Bruins as the game progresses. The rest of the Bruins need to get some things together, as the general malaise that hit them seems to have carried over early.

• REAL bad miss by Dugalic on a wide-open layup. UCLA really needs to settle down instead of just hoping Betts will carry them again.

• Alright, here comes Sienna for her first run in the game. The hope for UCLA has to be that playing a familiar opponent will help settle her down and get her playing closer to potential, allowing her to grow from her poor performance against Oklahoma State. She’s an X-factor on this team because she can give UCLA that interior presence when her sister is out, but she needs to play under control for that to happen.

• UCLA is not exactly starting to turn it up offensively, but the defense has picked up and is causing all sorts of problems for the Golden Gophers. But seriously, if Dugalic could just hit some layups, that would be great.

• End of 1Q thoughts: So far, this game feels like a carry-over of the Oklahoma State game on offense, with the Bruins missing a ton of looks right at the basket (including more than a few wide-open ones). The two big positives so far are Lauren Betts (as usual) and the defense, which has challenged Minnesota on every possession and forced five turnovers already. If the Bruins could make their shots at the rim, that would go a long way to turning a close early game into a laugher.

Second Quarter

• The lay-up issues will apparently continue unless morale improves. The announcers mentioned that UCLA was 6-15 at the rim following a Charlisse Leger-Walker miss on the fast break, and that is simply not elite basketball.

• UCLA might be winning, but they are playing Minnesota’s game at the moment, with a lot of up-and-down basketball. Minnesota is starting to hit some threes as well, so the Bruins really need to lock in on defense and slow things down.

• Minnesota seems more than content to sag off of Gabriela Jaquez on defense, and Jaquez has failed so far to make them pay. She’s 1-5 to start, missing both of her three-point attempts. Jaquez has done great at doing all the little things that an elite team needs, but her draft stock has taken a hit as her jumper has not looked anything close to consistent.

• Halftime thoughts: I didn’t have nearly as many thoughts as I usually do, which in hindsight speaks to how thoroughly Minnesota was dictating terms in the quarter. The Golden Gophers shot 53.8% in the quarter and hit three three-pointers, while they outrebounded the Bruins pretty significantly in the quarter. This would be five straight quarters where the Bruins have not played up to their potential, which is a worrying trend.

• More: UCLA’s whole value proposition this season is that the top five (six if you want to be generous about Dugalic) is so loaded with talent that they can afford an off night from one or two players and win comfortably. What we haven’t seen yet is what happens when most of that group has an off night against a good team. Lauren Betts and Angela Dugalic combined to go 10-13 (76.9%) in the first half, while the rest of the lineup went a miserable 6-20 (30%), and that’s not great. The Bruins are going to need at least one other player to step up in the second half because Minnesota has all sorts of momentum at the moment.

Third Quarter

• One of the things Coach Close talked about after Oklahoma State was this concept the team has called “kills”, which is getting three defensive stops in a row. It’s an interesting concept, especially because getting four straight stops is really hard and speaks to the high expectations of the team, but it was something sitting in my head during the first half when the Bruins could not stop Minnesota for any length of time. Well, the Bruins started the half with what feels like their first kill of the game, which forced a Minnesota timeout early.

• Clever use of the media timeout by Close to get Lauren extra rest, but this does get to a problem so far in this game, which is Close’s seeming disinterest in utilizing her bench in this game. I get that as the stakes get higher, you want to have more trust in your starters, but you also want to keep those starters as fresh as possible. Sienna looked fine in her first run, and Lena Bilic has done a good job playing within herself so far, but with the shooting struggles, the team could really use extra rest time to get their legs under them.

• Speaking of shooting issues, the Bruins are 4-7 from the field halfway through the third quarter, but all four makes have been at the rim. The Bruins are currently 0-7 from deep, which does not feel great.

• Hey, remember when I said Close should play her bench a bit more? Well, Sienna and Bilic stayed out after the media timeout, and Sienna is still putting up some good minutes, and Bilic hit UCLA’s first three-pointer of the game to extend the lead. Good things happen!

• Another sign of those shooting woes: UCLA is currently 6-13 from the free-throw line. It doesn’t matter if the Bruins are doing a good job of forcing Minnesota into tough defensive spots if they can’t convert from the charity stripe. And UCLA’s shooting woes are juxtaposed against Minnesota getting hot from deep again.

• End of 3Q thoughts: That was better, but still not at the level that you would expect from a #1 seed. UCLA isn’t doing enough of the little things and is letting Minnesota hang around in a game that, from a defensive perspective, they should be dominating by 20+ points. The Bruins held the Gophers to 25% shooting (4-16), but thanks to five turnovers of their own and going 6-10 from the free-throw line, they’ve only extended their lead by seven.

Fourth Quarter

• About halfway through the quarter, this is by far UCLA’s best quarter of the game. UCLA is hitting its shots and has played some strong defense, which is putting immense pressure on Minnesota to score quickly. Of note, UCLA has finally hit a few three-pointers this quarter, which has only added to the issues the Golden Gophers are trying to overcome.

• I think Minnesota’s rebounding numbers are a bit misleading. At the 4th quarter media timeout, it says Minnesota has 10 offensive rebounds, but I’ve noticed that it counts as a Minnesota offensive rebound whenever UCLA blocks a shot out of bounds. Minnesota has four offensive rebounds attributed to the team in general, while the Bruins have a ridiculous nine blocks in this game. The offense might have been pedestrian, but the defense has generally been really good for the Bruins.

• These last five minutes are going to suck from a pace perspective. Both teams have four fouls already, which means every whistle from here on out is going to result in free throws. If UCLA can hit its free throws (not a guarantee given how this game has gone to this point!), then you’d like their chances to comfortably close this out.

• Nitpick: Kiki Rice really needs to start passing a bit on the fast break. She had a three-on-one break and chose to attack on her own rather than give the ball up to one of the trailers for an easy basket. She ultimately converted the second shot to finish the game with 21, but it would be nice to see some smart basketball plays made from time to time.

• Benches clearing, this one is finally over.

• Final thoughts: I think you can pin part of UCLA’s struggles on playing a familiar opponent, but that’s what UCLA is going to have the rest of the way. The Bruins have played LSU in two straight NCAA Tournaments and played Duke earlier this season, so they have familiarity with both potential opponents in the Elite Eight, while they have recent games against Texas, South Carolina, and UConn as well. At some point in this NCAA Tournament, you’d like the Bruins to play a complete game and make a point that they deserved to be the #1 overall seed, but that just hasn’t happened yet. This still ended up as a comfortable win, but there was a lot that needed to be cleaned up yet again.

UCLA will be playing the winner of Duke and LSU on Sunday (which, as of writing, Duke is currently leading midway through the second quarter). Game time has not been set yet, but I would assume sometime around 1:00 PM PT given UConn and Notre Dame is set for 10:00 AM.

Go Bruins!

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