This post was updated Feb. 11 at 8:41 p.m.

The Big Ten boasts seven top-25 and four top-15 teams.

The Bruins – who top the conference rankings – have defeated each of the other top-15 conference rivals within the past 10 days. 

“Everyone else in the Big Ten, besides the West Coast schools, only take one of these long trips,” said coach Cori Close. “We take four of them. And this is our last one.”

Continuing its 17-game win streak, No. 2 UCLA (24-1, 14-0 Big Ten) put down No. 13 Michigan State (20-5, 9-5) 86-63 on Wednesday in East Lansing, Michigan. The match marked the end of the squad’s roadtrips, with the Bruins playing in Los Angeles for the remainder of the regular season. 

“We told our team all week that this was going to be like a Sweet Sixteen or an Elite Eight game but in a hostile environment,” Close said. “We’re one of the only teams. … We never practice after the first game. We recover, we watch film.”

Despite coming off its narrowest win of the season against No. 8 Michigan on Sunday, UCLA held a lead from the first play against Michigan State. The starting five cemented a 23-point lead only 15 minutes into the game while forcing the Spartans into a five-minute shooting drought.

Seniors center Lauren Betts and forward Gabriela Jaquez quickly racked up double-digit points, going 6-for-8 and 5-for-6 from the field, respectively, within the first two frames. Both shooters average double-digit points, alongside guards senior Kiki Rice and graduate student Gianna Kneepkens. Graduate student forward Angela Dugalić nears that mark, averaging 9.5 per game.

The Bruins made five positional player of the year preseason watch lists, including Rice for the 2026 Nancy Lieberman point guard Award and Betts for the 2026 Lisa Leslie center Award. Betts was awarded this accolade last season, following her junior campaign.

Facing the Bruins’ combined defensive front, the Spartans were held to 22.9% shooting from the field and just 20 points, their lowest scoring half all season. 

“We started to figure out how they were playing the ball screen,” Rice said. “That allows us to figure out exactly what we want to get to in each offensive set that we run. We got into a really good rhythm, and that helped us out for the rest of the game.”

Meanwhile, Betts and Jaquez’s near-perfect scoring and 13 points each boosted the Bruins to a 54.5% first-half shooting average, and UCLA went into the locker room with a 24-point lead. 

But despite the game-long lead that the Bruins held over the Spartans, the away-team still racked up 18 turnovers. Michigan State ranks third in forced turnovers in the Big Ten, while UCLA averages 13 turnovers per game. By the end of the third, the Bruins led by 28 points but had already met their 13-turnover average. They went on to turn the ball over another five times in the final frame. 

“This is probably the first team we’ve played that hedges and switches like that,” Rice said. “As guards, we need to take care of the ball together. I had way too many turnovers, and, as a collective group as guards, we had too many turnovers because we aren’t super used to playing against that type of defense.”

Fueled by 48 rebounds, UCLA was still able to outscore Michigan State. Betts, standing at 6-foot-7, was the tallest player on the court by far, with the Spartans’ closest player standing at only 6-foot-3. Lauren Betts grabbed seven rebounds, while Rice, Dugalić and freshman forward Sienna Betts came down with seven of their own. 

“We have ability,” Close said. “We’re big across the whole lineup. … We have some luxuries in that way to be able to switch and keep people in front of us and try to keep teams from being able to hunt advantages they can usually get.”

By the final buzzer, UCLA had maintained its more than-20 point lead and return to LA for the remainder of the regular season.