SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Cori Close had warned the UCLA Bruins that a game like Friday’s was coming, recently in fact.
After the Bruins defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes in the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament a couple of weeks ago by shooting 50% from 3-point range, their head coach told them they needed to be prepared for a game when their shooting went cold.
“I just said, ‘You guys, we have to be built for the days in which those threes don’t fall,’” Close told reporters on Friday after UCLA beat the Minnesota Gophers to advance to the Elite Eight. “But when you are built through the paint and built with the confidence of how to get that, you weather those storms.”
Sure enough, in the first half against Minnesota, the Bruins shot 0-for-6 from 3-point range. At one point in the third quarter, they were 1-for-9.
But UCLA’s defense kept it ahead of the Gophers and in relative control until the offense started to come around. During Close’s tenure as UCLA’s head coach, she’s preached getting “kills,” or three consecutive defensive stops. At halftime, that was what she emphasized.
“We said, ‘Hey, no matter what, when we leave this locker room, we got to start with a kill,'” Close said. “Just really making [Minnesota] play deep into the shot clock. I think those momentum changes of shot-clock violations, when you play all the way through, I think those are really momentum-getters.”
The Bruins’ first defensive stop of the second half was a shot-clock violation. The second stop was a steal from guard Gabriela Jaquez. The third was a missed shot from Gophers center Sophie Hart.
UCLA had 10 straight defensive stops before Minnesota finally scored around the five-minute mark of the third quarter. Among those stops were four straight blocked shots: two from guard Charlisse Leger-Walker and one each from center Lauren Betts and forward Angela Dugalic.
Listen now to The IX Sports Podcast and Women’s Sports Daily
We are excited to announce the launch of TWO new podcasts for all the women’s sports fans out there looking for a daily dose of women’s sports news and analysis. Stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or anywhere you listen to podcasts, and make sure to subscribe!
As the Bruins continued to clamp down defensively, players like Jaquez and guard Gianna Kneepkens started cutting off dribble penetration and limiting Minnesota’s perimeter scorers. Mara Braun and Amaya Battle, who have been offensive motors for the Gophers, shot a combined 6-for-24.
With the UCLA guards locking up the perimeter, that allowed Betts to have more control over the paint.
“In the back of their head, they know that I’m going to be there to help them, but I’m just so proud of the way the guards stepped up in taking away drives,” Betts told reporters after the game. “That’s something we really wanted to improve from the beginning of the season. The way they move their feet and how aggressive they’ve been lately has just been so amazing for me. I can just focus on my job of taking away their posts. Just super proud of the guards and their physicality.”
Overall, UCLA held Minnesota to 37.9% shooting from the field overall and 32.3% in the second half.
While adjusting to playing alongside equally talented teammates in her first season after transferring to UCLA, Kneepkens knew she could always make an impact on the defensive end.
”I’ve definitely tried to grow in my defense. I’ve been challenged every day in practice, and I think it improved that,” Kneepkens said postgame. “Just trying to slide my feet. I know if I trust my teammates behind me, it will give me more confidence to go up. I’m not afraid of being blown by because I know I’ll have help. That’s been a big thing.”
What makes UCLA such a good defensive team is that it has so many versatile defenders who can guard multiple positions. The Bruins currently rank 18th in the nation out of 363 teams with 81.7 points allowed per 100 possessions.
Frontcourt players like Betts and Dugalic are comfortable switching out to the perimeter on quicker wings. Guards Jaquez and Kneepkens can use their length to disrupt the inside. As UCLA looks to advance even further in the NCAA Tournament, that versatility is going to be key.
“It’s super fun to really have defense as our anchor and have that fuel our energy and fuel our team,” Jaquez said after the win. “We really focus on that, and we know how important defense is. It’s so fun to be on a tall team. I love it. We do have a lot of length and we have so many versatile players.”
“Becoming Caitlin Clark” is out now!
Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.
The IX Basketball’s Matthew Walter contributed reporting for this story.
Looking for more March Madness stories? Read all our NCAA Tournament coverage at The IX Sports.
