The UCLA Bruins’ success against #1 South Carolina can’t be broken down to just one reason, the commanding win to end the Gamecocks’ 43-game win streak required many facets of the Bruins’ game to be top-tier but head coach Cori Close was able to diagnose the win with just six words.
“We have Lauren and they don’t.” Close said on the broadcast in a postgame interview of her junior center Lauren Betts.
Betts had far from her best scoring performance on Sunday, finishing with just 11 points but her impact far outweighed the 11 points, piling up 14 rebounds and four blocks. An area where Betts has improved in her second season as a Bruin is playmaking. She had four assists in Sunday’s win, with her season average sitting at 3.4 per game, up from only 0.9 last year.
While Close gave the blunt statement about Betts immediately after the Bruins’ 77-62 win on Sunday, she also expressed her respect for South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley.
“First of all they have set the standard,” Close said. “Such a respect for Dawn Staley, and her whole entire staff and team but we believed that we would win. We always say that it begins before it begins and we do the work mentally and we prepared really well.”
Now the Bruins are the #1 team in the country, taking the throne from the Gamecocks this week before returning to action on Friday at the Rainbow Wahine Showdown in Hawaii against UT Martin.