SPOKANE, Washington — Don’t sleep on UCLA.
I don’t mean don’t overlook them. That’s impossible to do when the Bruins are the overall No. 1 seed and have a first-team All-American in Lauren Betts. I mean don’t let your guard down even for a second.
Do it, and you’ll get an idea of what it feels like to be roadkill.
Ole Miss went toe to toe with UCLA for the first half Friday night, no doubt sparking ideas of another NCAA tournament upset by the Rebels. Two minutes into the second half, however, it was obvious UCLA is nothing like that No. 1-seeded Stanford team Ole Miss stunned two years ago.
Londynn Jones opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer, Kiki Rice scored on a driving layup and then drained a 3 after Betts kicked the ball out to her. Kharyssa Richardson stopped the run with a layup, but it was an interruption rather than a reprieve.
Betts made a pair of turn-around jumpers, Jones hit another 3 and UCLA could start game-planning for its Elite Eight game against LSU on Sunday.
‘It was the adjustments we made at halftime. We felt like we’re better than one point better than Ole Miss, and that was the score at the half,’ Kiki Rice said. ‘But we needed to come out and play our game, rebound the ball, take care of the ball, and just continue to follow the game plan.
‘But I think it was kind of a little bit of a mindset shift and just going out there, being tough.’
UCLA spent much of the season as the No. 1 team and has lost only two games, to crosstown rival USC. Betts is a big reason for that. Bruins coach Cori Close calls her a ‘generational player,’ and she’s not wrong.
Betts finished with 31 points against Ole Miss, and missed just one of her 16 shots. She also had 10 rebounds and three blocks.
‘I’m honestly pretty used to that at this point. She’s so dominant every day in practice,’ Rice said. ‘You guys don’t see it, but every single day she comes with the same consistency, and she’s just sogreat. So I think when we do get in games, it’s like throw the ball up to Lauren. She’ll score, get me an assist.
‘I’m so grateful to have her on my team and not be playing against her.’
But the Bruins aren’t a one-person team. Find a way to corral Betts, and Rice will pop off. Bottle her up, and it frees Jones to start raining 3s. Contain all of them and you probably have octopus arms. But it won’t matter because Gabriela Jaquez will eat your lunch.
What makes the Bruins truly scary, however, is how quickly they can pile up the points.
Just as Richmond did in the second round of the NCAA tournament, Ole Miss was doing everything right at the end of the first half. And then all of the sudden the Bruins took off, and the Rebels were left chasing a boulder downhill.
‘It all came off our defense, right?’ Close said. ‘When we’re able to get stops and rebounds, we’re able toexecute and make them play in space, and do some things offensively that are harder when we have to take it out of the basket and go versus their press and all of those things.
‘But it’s so huge. That’s why it turns so quickly, it’s turning defense into offense,’ Close added. ‘That’s really where we’ve got to hang our hats.’
And the truly terrifying part? The Bruins still have room to grow and improve.
Against Ole Miss, like Richmond, UCLA had spurts of dominance but didn’t sustain it for the entire game. But the Bruins know they’ll need to. The dominance they showed in the regular season was fine. But it won’t mean much if they’re watching the Final Four from their couches.
‘We started really well tonight and we had a really good third quarter. But can we have more poise and consistency in the middle of the fight?’ Close said. ‘Those are some things we got to respond to and get better.’
You’ve all been warned.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
