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UCLA women’s basketball to face defending national champion No. 1 South Carolina

Senior guard Charisma Osborne takes the ball up the court. Osborne paces UCLA in scoring, and the veteran is expected to anchor the Bruins when they face the No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks on Tuesday afternoon. (Megan Cai/Assistant Photo editor)

women's basketball


No.1 South Carolina
Tuesday, 4 p.m.

Columbia
ESPN+

By Gavin Carlson

Nov. 29, 2022 3:15 p.m.

For the second straight season, the Bruins’ eighth game of their campaign will be against one of the best teams in the nation.

But unlike last year when the blue and gold stumbled into the matchup with an underwhelming start to the season, the Bruins are undefeated and exceeding expectations ahead of the ranked showdown.

No. 15 UCLA women’s basketball (7-0) will put its perfect start to the season to the test when it faces off against No. 1 South Carolina (6-0) in Columbia, South Carolina on Tuesday. The Bruins’ matchup with the nation’s top-ranked team and defending national champions comes one year after last year’s Bruin squad lost two nonconference contests in the games leading up to their eventual defeat to then-No. 3 UConn.

When asked if the team’s undefeated start to 2022 has surprised her, coach Cori Close said the group has gelled and thrived faster than expected while still having plenty of things to improve on.

“I don’t know if I knew what to expect,” Close said. “I knew this group was going to grow into being something good, and honestly we’re still pretty inconsistent. We have a lot of room to get better.”

With similar schedules to begin its campaigns, the blue and gold has seen vastly different results this season compared to the last.

After a 3-0 start and No. 19 ranking to begin the 2021-2022 season, UCLA suffered a pair of defeats to non-Power-Five opponents to begin its time at the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Florida. The defeats pushed the blue and gold out of the top 25, and even after two bounce-back wins, the Bruins were unranked heading into their 10-point loss to the University of Connecticut, which foreshadowed a WNIT-capped campaign.

This year’s start has been the complete opposite.

Despite welcoming the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class to Westwood over the summer, UCLA began the season unranked and remained that way even after a second straight 3-0 start.

The Bruins continued their perfect start this time around with a 3-0 showing in the Bahamas last weekend to clinch the Battle 4 Atlantis Championship. The blue and gold instantly leaped to No. 20 in the AP poll and, following another win against Jackson State, now ranks in the top 15 as it travels across the country to face the nation’s best team.

Senior guard Charisma Osborne, who is currently leading the team in scoring for the second season in a row by averaging 20.1 points per game, said last year’s struggles have helped motivate the team’s veterans to lead the turnaround.

“We had a different mindset coming into this year,” Osborne said. “Obviously, I was on the team last year, and I did not like how the season really went for us. … Me, the other veterans, seniors, they’ve all just been leading the way, and the freshmen have been following.”

Now, with the defending champs next on their schedule, Osborne and the rest of her teammates have a chance to prove the program’s turnaround is the start of a special season.

Aliyah Boston Injury

In addition to being their eighth game of the season once again, the Bruins’ matchup against the Gamecocks potentially shares another similarity to their matchup with the Huskies last year: the possible absence of their opponents’ best player.

UCLA faced UConn last season without the National Player of the Year from the previous season guard Paige Bueckers, who missed the game due to injury. Fast forward to now, and it’s uncertain whether the reigning unanimous AP Player of the Year, South Carolina forward Aliyah Boston, will play in Tuesday’s game against the blue and gold.

Boston injured her leg on a fall during the Gamecocks’ 85-38 win over Hampton on Sunday afternoon and was spotted wearing a walking boot after the contest. But the senior forward also was seen fully dressed and without the boot at South Carolina’s practice Monday and is a true game-time decision for Tuesday’s game, according to coach Dawn Staley.

Named the Honda Cup Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year, Boston helped lead the Gamecocks to the national title in the 2021-2022 season by averaging 16.8 points, 12.5 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 1.2 steals per game.

With or without Boston, the defending national champions boast a strong lineup, with players such as guard and All-America Honorable Mention from the last two seasons Zia Cooke.

Likely to be matched up against Cooke, freshman guard Kiki Rice, the highest-ranked recruit in the history of the blue and gold program, said she believes the Bruins have the personnel required to compete with the nation’s No. 1 team.

“Coming into this game, we know we have the talent, the skill, and we have the ability to execute and play at the level of all these top five teams in the country,” Rice said. “We’re ready to show that, and I’m just excited for the opportunity.”

UCLA and South Carolina will face off in Columbia, South Carolina on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

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Gavin Carlson | Sports staff
Carlson is currently a staff writer on the football, men's basketball and women's basketball beats. He was previously a reporter on the softball and men's golf beats.
Carlson is currently a staff writer on the football, men's basketball and women's basketball beats. He was previously a reporter on the softball and men's golf beats.
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