Postgame Talk: UCLA Saves the Betts for Last in 87-68 Victory Over Oklahoma State
Lauren Betts set a career high with 35 points in her final game in Pauley Pavilion to send the Bruins off to the Sweet Sixteen.
The UCLA Bruins under Cori Close have created an unenviable position for themselves, in that their sustained excellence means that they are constantly being compared to their prior performance. On the one hand, you want to be in that position, because it means that people have high expectations for you, and believe that you are capable of meeting them.
On the flip side, when you don’t meet those expectations, it stands out like a sore thumb, even in victory. You can look at UCLA’s 87-68 victory over Oklahoma State as a gutty victory, and you wouldn’t be wrong, but I would also posit that it wasn’t up to the standard that the program has established for itself.
But don’t take my word for it. Take it from Cori Close, who said in the postgame that the second half was the first time all season that she felt the team was letting the weight of expectations start to weigh them down. There were moments where UCLA looked tentative, at times a step slow in rotating on defense, or making lackadaisical passes that were easy to tip, or even letting a decision by the officials seem to effect them mentally, and it showed. UCLA had an excellent start to the game, coasted a bit in the second quarter, and then let Oklahoma State thoroughly outplay them in the second half. UCLA had the best player on the court, but you could make the argument that Oklahoma State had the second and third best players, and when your team is as talented as UCLA’s is, that’s not great.
I don’t want to sound like I’m dismissing UCLA’s opponent, so let me say here full credit to Oklahoma State for getting punched in the mouth and refusing to roll over. The Cowgirls continually exploited a lethargic UCLA defense at the point of attack, running an effective pick-and-roll that the Bruins struggled to defend. Achol Akot was a force, scoring 23 points on 10-16 shooting while creating problems for the poor UCLA defenders who routinely got switched on her down in the post. Jadyn Wooten was similarly effective, scoring 18 points (9-18 from the field), with 14 of them coming in the second half on a series of tough shots. Oklahoma State shot 51.4% in the second half, which feels like an unacceptable amount for UCLA to give up in any game, let alone an NCAA Tournament game, and the only reason this game wasn’t closer was because the Bruins started so hot to open the game.
Of course, the lead also felt safe because the best player on the court still wore blue and gold.
In her final performance in front of the Pauley Pavilion faithful, Lauren Betts set a new career high with 35 points on 15-19 shooting from the field while grabbing nine rebounds and five assists. Simply put, it was a transcendent performance, one that should assuage any fears from WNBA scouts as to her ability to be an impact player at the next level. Betts hit shots from all over, showing off her increased range with a few jumpers beyond the free throw line, but also did her usual damage around the basket, showcasing both her soft hands to easily receive a bevy of entry passes while displaying more nuanced attacks in the post than she had last year. And on defense, Betts was a force, chasing guards out to the three-point line while acting as a menace on the interior. So much of the Oklahoma State attack focused on avoiding Betts as much as possible, and I can honestly state that was the best move they could have made to try and win the game.
UCLA needed Lauren to have a transcendent performance because, outside of her, it is hard to pinpoint any other UCLA players that you could say met the level of competitive greatness that has been a standard here. Gianna Kneepkens came closest, as her 15 points (including hitting three of her six three-pointers) provided some welcome secondary scoring that kept defenses honest, but her defense was spotty. Gabriela Jaquez had the most “complete” game, doing all the dirty work en route to 10 points and seven rebounds, but she disappeared in the second half. Lena Bilic had a good game, but only played six minutes so hard to take too much from it.
It gets worse the further down you go. Kiki Rice was a nonfactor, which is probably the best thing you can say about the players in this group, but she was seemingly pressing at times in the second half while searching for points. Charlisse Leger-Walker had eight assists and played mistake-free basketball on the offensive end, but she was continually hunted on defense and ended up sitting a decent amount because of it. Angela Dugelic can point to her defense as a positive, but her offensive game was by far her worst in at least a month. And Sienna Betts felt like a disaster on the court, only recording three points while picking up two turnovers, zero rebounds, and generally getting lost on switches and taken out of the play.
If you’re Cori Close, the best thing you can say about this game is that you won. The second-best thing you can say about this game is that there is now plenty of teachable tape to go over the next few days, and the third-best thing you can say is that you are at least familiar with your next opponent, though Minnesota has been on a heater since losing to the Bruins back in January. But I can’t imagine she will be sleeping well for the next few nights; there were simply too many problems to ignore.
Making a fourth-consecutive Sweet Sixteen is a tremendous achievement, but that’s the curse of a standard - when you fail to meet it, it eats at you for a long time.
First Quarter
There’s very much a feeling of Last Dance going on here, and I don’t think I really appreciated it until the starting lineups. Hearing the word “senior” over and over when UCLA’s group was being announced hit home that this was not only this group’s last game inside Pauley, but the last run for all of them. All five starters are projected WNBA first-round draft picks, so this is really a last ride sort of thing.
I watched a lot of Oklahoma State’s game on Saturday, so I got familiar with a few of their players and what they want to do, but this is very clearly a situation early where the Cowgirls are not going to be able to do the same things in this game that they were against Princeton. Similarly, UCLA’s offense is able to do whatever it wants in a way that they were not able to do early against the smaller, faster Cal Baptist squad.
Oklahoma State called an early timeout because, while the Bruins are “only” shootnig 62.5% from the field, they’ve scored on almost every possession so far, with four second-chance points early on. Lauren Betts already looks like a problem on the interior, especially if Charlisse Leger-Walker is throwing the kind of beautiful bounce passes she has to start this one.
Similar size thing: against Princeton, Oklahoma State’s Achol Akot was huge, both literally and figuratively. Against UCLA, the Bruins can switch three different members of the starting lineup who can match her size, to say nothing of Leger-Walker and Kiki Rice only giving up a few inches at best.
You can see the glimpses of skill with Sienna Betts and know she’ll be good down the line, but right now, there are still a ton of instances where she makes freshman mistakes. I think giving her heavy reps early is a good idea, because if she can provide solid minutes in the later rounds, that would be huge (also, Oklahoma State has decided to get more physical with her than Lauren, which is interesting to say the least).
Gianna Kneepkens is locked in early, hitting both of her three-pointers. She came in as the “missing piece” of this team, a consistent outside shooter that could extend the floor and stretch defenses out for Betts and Rice to work, and it’s good to see her getting into a rhythm early.
End of 1Q thoughts: Oklahoma State clearly wants to be physical with UCLA, but it has not worked through the first quarter. All it’s doing is allowing UCLA to match that physicality and limit the Cowgirls. Oklahoma State only had six points on 2-16 shooting, and there weren’t many open looks that OSU can point to as being tough misses. One interesting note: Oklahoma State is doubling up UCLA on offensive rebounds so far, having seven to three for the Bruins, but it’s largely a byproduct of all the jump shots the Bruins are forcing.
Second Quarter
Lauren Betts has a lot of confidence in that 15-foot jumper, and she’s hitting it at a good-enough clip that it has turned into a weapon. That’s huge, not just for her development but for UCLA’s offense in the rest of the tournament, as teams have to respect her from further out, opening up cut lanes for the rest of the team.
You know who has given some real good minutes during this opening weekend? Lena Bilic. She’s hit two threes so far in this first half with confidence and is playing some solid defense. I don’t think you should expect 20+ minutes from her late in the tournament or anything, but if she can keep winning her minutes, that will go a long way toward helping UCLA win those crucial middle-quarter minutes when some of the starters are sitting.
Ok, Lauren Betts just had one of the meaner defensive possessions I’ve seen yet. Poor Achot Akot tried using a dribble to get around and past Betts, and Betts stayed with her the entire time, blocked the eventual layup attempt, and managed to knock it off Akot.
Akot is starting to heat up late here, stretching the court and making Betts have to work more on the defensive end. It’s good practice for UConn at the very least, but the Bruins will need to figure out a more focused defensive plan at the very least.
There’s a fun little action UCLA has been running on offense against the zone, where Jaquez goes and sits in the dunker spot while Betts operates more on the wing. Oklahoma State hasn’t figured out much to stop that action, but then again, there isn’t much they’ve been able to stop to begin with.
Halftime thoughts: Oklahoma State started figuring some things out offensively, though the solution - just hit tough fadeaways and avoid Lauren Betts if at all possible - doesn’t seem particularly sustainable, especially if Betts can get whatever she wants on the other end. UCLA’s offense similarly stagnated late, but the Bruins aren’t running anything particularly complicated on that end at the moment.
Third Quarter
UCLA recognizes the best way to neutralize Akot is to put her in actions where she either has to foul or give up an easy basket. She picks up an early third foul and is back to the bench, which should help stem the OSU attack.
Jadyn Wooten has hit some tough shots in this game, which is helping keep the Cowgirls relatively in the game. Also, UCLA is playing a bit lackadaisically on both ends at the moment. In particular, Angela Dugelic has not had a particularly good game so far, which is interesting because of how consistent she’s been over the past few weeks.
I think Kiki is going to get tagged with a flagrant here. Live, it didn't look great that she was coming up high to get away from her defender. Even if not, the Bruins are back to struggling in a game that looked like it would be uncompetitive early. (And, live update: it wasn’t upgraded!)
Lauren comes back in for Sienna much earlier than I think Cori Close would prefer, but it is warranted, as she was reaching some unplayable levels during that stint. Again, freshman playing her first major NCAA Tournament minutes and all that, but Close needs to be quicker on the hook with her and consider more of Amanda Muse, who is not as good a player but does the little things.
Akot is back in the game with three fouls, and the UCLA strategy seems pretty simple: attack her immediately on offense. As an aside, the crowd has grown impatient with the officiating and is not being quiet about it; this is the loudest the crowd has been all game.
End of 3Q thoughts: UCLA has had a bad habit of coming out flat for at least one quarter a game, and my feelings more often than not have been that the third quarter tends to be that quarter, as opposing teams will make adjustments and UCLA will be slow to react. That was the case here, as the Bruins only shot 35.3% (6-17) while letting Oklahoma State shoot a blistering 52.9% (9-17). Again, UCLA still leads by 17, and this does not feel like a game the Bruins are in danger of losing, but after spending a weekend watching the other #1 seeds summarily dispatch their opponents early and often, this has not been a confidence-building weekend like one would have hoped.
Fourth Quarter
Little bit of shithousery by Oklahoma State there, having one player slowly tie her shoes to give the bench enough time to look at the footage and decide to review. In any event, UCLA still is not locked in on the defensive end, breaking down for easy layups repeatedly. As a positive, Akot just picked up her fourth foul, so we’ll see how long the Cowgirls risk sitting her.
Akot is coming back to the floor. Time to see if UCLA will focus on getting her out of the game for good.
A decent defensive shift, having Dugelic cover the ball to start possessions, which puts her and Betts into the action on the pick and roll, disrupting what Oklahoma State wants to do initially (and taking Leger-Walker, UCLA’s weakest defender in the core six, out of the play entirely). Close has not won the X’s and O’s battle in this second half, but that has at least slowed things down.
Akott is going to have to risk a foul because otherwise, this is too easy offensively for Betts.
I think the Bruins have done enough to put this game away, but this has not been an impressive performance, and it should give pause to anyone expecting UCLA to roll to the title game, let alone matchup well with UConn. Achot Akot has had her way with the UCLA defense, which isn’t ideal when you still have to potentially face Flau’jae Johnson and Sarah Strong to win a title. The UCLA offense did enough to get by, but outside of Lauren Betts and Gianna Kneepkens, this was not an ideal performance on that end, either.
Curtain call time. Only Bruin not to get one is Jaquez, who gets to be the lone starter remaining with the bench squad.
Final thoughts: UCLA fans did a good job filling out the Pauley (well, as much as you can expect this fan base to show up for anything), and Jaquez gets her curtain call by dribbling out the game and waving to the crowd. Cori Close got on the mic afterwards to thank the crowd, and the Bruins slapped their name on the board at center court in front of the Bruin faithful. The team even did the customary walk around the floor to thank fans. This isn’t something you see at any men’s game around the country, and it’s so cool to experience it in person.
The Bruins are now off to Sacramento to play the Minnesota Golden Gophers. That game is scheduled to tip off on Friday at 4:30 PM PT.
Go Bruins!
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