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‘Work to do’: No. 1 UCLA women’s basketball hones defense to face Indiana, Purdue

Coach Cori Close watches the court from the sidelines. Close recently passed 300 wins as the Bruins’ head coach, marking the most wins by any coach in program history. (Brandon Morquecho/Daily Bruin senior staff)

Women's Basketball


Indiana
Saturday, 9 a.m.

Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall
FOX
Purdue
Tuesday, 4 p.m.

Mackey Arena
Big Ten Network

By J. Spencer Brown

Jan. 3, 2025 3:57 p.m.

This post was updated Jan. 3 at 8:24 p.m.

The Bruins appear perfect from the outside, with an undefeated record and the nation’s top rank.

But in a new conference and year, true perfection is an interminable quest.

No. 1 UCLA women’s basketball (14-0, 3-0 Big Ten) will head deeper into conference play with road matchups against Indiana (10-3, 2-0) and Purdue (7-7, 0-3).

And as the Bruins prepare to travel more than 1,500 miles to Bloomington, Indiana, the group is focusing on recapturing its collective identity.

“We have an immense amount of talent,” coach Cori Close said after UCLA’s most recent win over No. 24 Michigan. “But we have to decide whether we want to win individual games or we want to become a championship team, and that’s a decision we have to make right away.”

While the Bruins eventually triumphed with a 16-point victory, they were unable to distance themselves from the Wolverines until late in the game’s fourth quarter.

Close said the Bruins’ struggles were primarily on defense. Michigan scored 70 points, the most allowed by the Bruin defense all season.

“We weren’t good enough,” Close said. “The whole messaging was about toughness and defense.”

Indiana’s offense, which averages 72.8 points per game, could prove to be a challenging test for UCLA. The Bruins may want to limit fouls, as the Hoosiers are attempting an average of 19 free throws per game – with the biggest threats from the stripe being guards Shay Ciezki and Yarden Garzon, shooting 93.5% and 100%, respectively.

“I’m really excited that we have such a tough opponent in a very hostile environment this very next game,” Close said. “If we go into Bloomington with that (the Michigan match’s) level of urgency and concentration, we’re going to get beat.”

Three games into conference play, Purdue is still without a Big Ten win. The Boilermakers have allowed on average more than 24 3-point attempts per game – almost three more than the Bruins’ per-game average.

Junior guard Londynn Jones has attempted the most 3-point shots for the Bruins this year, knocking down 4 of 6 from beyond the arc against Michigan.

“We still have work to do,” Jones said. “We didn’t really like how things ended, but we are just focusing on the next day and fixing the things that we need to fix.”

Five UCLA players reached double-digit scoring against Michigan, with another key performance coming from junior center Lauren Betts.

Betts scored just 13 points – well below her season average of 19.3 – but made her presence known with 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocks.

“Lauren didn’t necessarily score every time in the first half,” Close said. “But we created a rotation, and then we got an assist or an easy bucket off of her handling of double teams.”

The team’s leading scorer and John Wooden Award watch list member is likely to play a critical role in the Bruins’ trip to the Midwest. The 6-foot-7 Betts can continue to create favorable matchups for UCLA against both Indiana and Purdue, with each team’s tallest player being listed at 6 feet, 4 inches.

“We needed that reminder today that we’re a bunch of talented people,” Betts said. “But once we start actually playing together, it’ll go back to how it was before.”

UCLA tips off against Indiana on Saturday at 9 a.m. and Purdue on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

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