No. 3-ranked UCLA Bruins women’s basketball team, with a record of 15-1 overall and 5-0 in Big Ten Conference play, is set to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers (12-4, 3-2 B1G) on Wednesday night at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. The game will begin at 5 p.m. PT and will be broadcast on B1G+. Radio coverage will be available through UCLA Digital Radio and SiriusXM.
UCLA leads the all-time series against Minnesota 3-1 and holds a 1-0 advantage in conference games. Last season, the Bruins defeated the Golden Gophers by a margin of 26 points at Pauley Pavilion, with Kiki Rice scoring 14 points and Lauren Betts recording a career-high 11 assists.
In their most recent outing on January 11, UCLA secured an 83-61 victory over No. 25 Nebraska. Senior Lauren Betts led with 18 points and 10 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the year. She also contributed four blocks and five steals, making her the only NCAA Division I women’s basketball player taller than six-foot-four to achieve those defensive numbers in a single game this season. Six Bruins scored in double figures during that contest: L. Betts (18), G. Kneepkens (16), C. Leger-Walker (14), S. Betts (12), K. Rice (12), and G. Jaquez (11). The team outrebounded Nebraska by a margin of fifteen.
The Bruins began the season ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press Top 25 Women’s Basketball Poll released on October 14, facing several top-ranked opponents early in November including Oklahoma, North Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee—finishing November with three wins against ranked teams out of four matchups.
UCLA played six of its first eight games at neutral sites this season, including two trips to Las Vegas for tournaments such as the WBCA Challenge and Players Era Women’s Championship where they finished with three wins out of four games.
Within the current AP Top 25 poll for week ten, eight Big Ten programs are represented: No. 3 UCLA, No.8 Michigan, No.11 Iowa, No.12 Maryland, No.14 Ohio State, No.15 Michigan State, No.24 Nebraska and No.25 Illinois; Washington, USC and Oregon received votes as well.
Last season saw UCLA win twenty-three consecutive games—twenty-two by double digits—setting new program records for both total wins in a streak and consecutive double-digit victories; their previous best was twenty-one straight wins during their championship campaign in the late seventies.
Seven McDonald’s All Americans are currently on UCLA’s roster: Lauren Betts, Sienna Betts, Angela Dugalić, Timea Gardiner, Gabriela Jaquez, Amanda Muse and Kiki Rice—with Jaquez and Rice having shared co-MVP honors at the all-star game.
The team was named USBWA National Team of the Week after achieving three victories from November tenth to fifteenth—including wins over Oklahoma and North Carolina—and currently has four players averaging double-digit points per game; their starting five averages nearly sixty-nine points per contest.
UCLA leads the Big Ten Conference in field goal percentage (.508), rebounds per game (44.2 RPG), total assists (353) as well as assist-to-turnover ratio (1.77). They also hold second place nationally for rebounding margin (+15.8 RPG).
At this point midway through conference play they sit second in NET rankings while leading all teams nationally with seven Quad One victories.
