Category: UCLA Bruins

Purdue head coach links Lauren Betts to Boilermaker legend Zach Edey

Purdue women’s basketball coach Katie Gearlds effusively praised UCLA superstar Lauren Betts, comparing her to Purdue legend Zach Edey.

After the UCLA Bruins defeated Purdue 83-49 to match the best-ever start to a season in Bruins’ history, Boilermakers head coach Katie Gearlds had kind words for UCLA coach Cori Close and her team. During the postgame press conference, a reporter asked Gearlds about the Bruins’ center, Lauren Betts. The reporter referred to Betts as “one of the best” post players in the country, but Gearlds cut the reporter off. “Not one of,” Gearalds said. “The best post player in the country. Probably National Player of the Year, right? She’s that good.” Gearlds compared Betts to a Purdue great, Zach Edey, who won Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year last season and is now with the Memphis Grizzlies. 

“It’s like Zach Edey. You gameplan everything around her and the other kids come in and make shots,” Gearalds said of Betts. “We play a lot of good post players in the Big Ten, but not anyone like that.”

Betts led the Bruins with 17 points and seven rebounds in the win, despite playing just 22 minutes in the blowout win. Betts has also been able to take the brunt of the opponents’ defensive attention and still produce while making things significantly easier for her Bruin teammates. 

Gearlds also shared how Close would call and encourage the head coach, who’s in her fourth season as the Boilermakers head coach.

“I talk to Coach Cori all the time. She’s like ‘Kate’,” Gearlds said, while doing an impression of Close. “It took me nine years to get it turned around here. You got to stay with it, you got to trust your process.”

Now Close and UCLA will try to secure the best start in program history on Sunday at home against Northwestern. 

UCLA doesn’t play with its food, hammers Purdue by 34 points

UCLA took a 10-0 lead in the first 100 seconds of its game against Purdue. The Bruins cruised and gave a lot of players a chance to play.

The wins continue to come for the No. 1 UCLA Bruins, who improved to 16-0 with an 83-49 win over Purdue Tuesday night. UCLA women’s basketball will now head back home from Indiana, leaving the state with a pair of victories. UCLA defeated the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday.

The Bruins didn’t have to sweat it out on Tuesday. UCLA took a 29-13 lead through the first quarter and then a 44-19 advantage at the half. UCLA notably got the comfortable lead without any individual player having to put on her Superwoman cape. Junior forward Janiah Barker led the team with 10 field goal attempts off the bench.

Lauren Betts had a solid but not out-of-the-ordinary night, with 17 points to pace the Bruins in just 22 minutes, her second-lowest total of the season. Junior forward Timea Gardiner hit four threes off the bench, scoring 16 points in 15 minutes. 

The one-sided score made it easy for UCLA head coach Cori Close to give her players lighter minutes to wrap up the road trip. UCLA’s offense as a whole was very efficient on Tuesday, shooting 53% from the field and 45% from three. 

It wasn’t just their shooting which stood out; the Bruins handled Purdue in every facet, having a 17-0 advantage in second chance points, holding a 40-12 lead in points in the paint and finishing with eight more fast break points. It did not take long for UCLA to establish a lead, taking a 13-0 lead in less than three minutes.

The Bruins are now 5-0 in Big Ten play, one of four schools without a conference loss. Next UCLA will host Northwestern on Sunday, with Northwestern being one of the four winless schools in the Big Ten so far this season.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson enters uncertain NFL future in 2025

DTR could very easily be cut by the Cleveland Browns. Can he find a way to stick in the NFL, or is the CFL potentially a good 2025 option for him?

A tumultuous NFL season came to an end on Saturday for Dorian Thompson-Robinson and the Cleveland Browns. The Browns lost their Week 18 matchup to the Baltimore Ravens 35-10. While Bailey Zappe got the start at quarterback for Cleveland, Thompson-Robinson saw some brief action.

Thompson-Robinson has been playing through a calf injury. To say that the former UCLA quarterback has struggled in the pros would be an understatement. Thompson-Robinson has thrown six interceptions while not accounting for a single touchdown over seven games for Cleveland. Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski announced earlier in the week that Zappe would get the start, with the expectation that Thompson-Robinson would also get reps under center for the Browns.

Zappe did get the start, but it was far from an even split between the two quarterbacks. Thompson-Robinson played only one drive midway through the first half before returning to the bench and having Zappe man the offense for the rest of the game.

Thompson-Robinson led a six-play drive which culminated with a punt after Cleveland gained 12 yards. Thompson-Robinson went 2-3 through the air for 13 yards and added two rushes for three yards. It was the best QB rating (75.7) of any game in Thompson-Robinson’s career where he threw more than one pass but the Browns still stuck with Zappe, who posted a 51.8 QB rating in the game.

Thompson-Robinson is the all-time UCLA passing leader, but his skills have yet to translate to the NFL. DTR will now face an offseason of uncertainty. He remains under contract for the Browns over the next two seasons, but Cleveland could save over $2 million over the next two seasons by cutting Thompson-Robinson, who has struggled mightily against NFL defenses. 

UCLA should hold upper hand in Big Ten matchup against Purdue

UCLA has a big statistical advantage over Purdue, but watch out for the Boilermakers’ 3-point shooting. The Bruins will need to guard the arc.

It’s true that the No. 1-ranked UCLA Bruins play in a loaded Big Ten Conference that’s littered with title contenders. However, UCLA women’s basketball won’t have to face one of those teams on Tuesday when the Bruins meet 7-7 Purdue on the road at Mackey Arena.

Purdue is one of four Big Ten schools still searching for a first conference win this season. The Boilermakers are 0-3 with losses to Maryland, Iowa and Michigan State. All three of those schools are ranked in the top 25, but they’re not quite the 15-0 Bruins. 

It is still early in the conference season, but currently UCLA is averaging 80.8 points per game in the Big Ten, second-best behind only Ohio State, while Purdue is 13th at 63.7 points per game. Purdue’s defense ranks even worse, having the No. 17 scoring defense thus far in conference play, allowing 79.67 points per game.

One of the Boilermakers’ strengths is their 3-point shooting, having shot above 40% from three in Big Ten action on 19 attempts per game. Their strength will be tested by one of the Bruins’ strong points. UCLA has held opponents to 24.7% shooting from three in its first year in the Big Ten, allowing just five makes per game.

A matchup to watch in Tuesday’s game is how Purdue’s freshman forward Lana McCarthy holds up against UCLA’s Lauren Betts. Betts is one of college basketball’s most dominant interior forces. While the 6’4” McCarthy has enjoyed a good start to her collegiate career, slowing down Betts will be a whole other challenge for her and Purdue.

UCLA’s Kiki Rice has high praise for her most recent opponent

UCLA’s Kiki Rice faced a tough one-on-one matchup against Indiana. This should make her better for future games.

The top-ranked UCLA Bruins were able to hold off the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday 73-62, even with star guard Kiki Rice having an off shooting game. 

Rice went just 3-13 from the field but was able to help UCLA in other ways, getting to the free throw line eight times and tallying seven rebounds and seven assists with two steals. The junior was matched up with Indiana’s Chloe Moore-McNeil, who’s made the Big Ten Defensive Team the previous two seasons with the Hoosiers. 

“She’s a great defender,” Rice said of Moore-McNeil. “Definitely one of the better ones that I’ve faced this season. I think her length and her ability to really move on the perimeter and get through screens and all that was definitely a tough matchup.”

Rice still ended with 12 points in Saturday’s game, but it was her first time since November she shot below 50% from the field.

“Watch the film and learn from it.” Rice said.

Rice is matching her career high in points per game with 13.2 while shooting a career best 56.5% from the field. 

Tuesday should be a better matchup for the Bruins’ offense, facing Purdue, which has the No. 17 scoring defense in the Big Ten. That is a sharp contrast with playing the conference’s No. 2 scoring defense in Indiana. UCLA will tip off against the Boilermakers on Tuesday at 4 p.m. Pacific time. The game will be aired on the Big Ten Network.

UCLA women are learning how to handle Big Ten road trips

UCLA’s bus ride to Indiana’s Assembly Hall took 39 minutes longer than expected. These and other problems will be addressed.

The No. 1 UCLA Bruins are a perfect 4-0 in Big Ten play in their first season in the conference. However, the Bruins are still learning how to handle their travel schedules for these new trips across the country for conference action.

“We had some adversity that was honestly out of our control,” UCLA’s head coach Cori Close said of the program learning on how to best travel to play their new Big Ten opponents. “We had a little bus transportation problem today.”

The team believed that the trip would be just a six-minute ride. It turned out to be 45 minutes, an issue that will be addressed in the future. The longer bus trip and early tip-off didn’t slow down the Bruins, who secured a 73-62 win over Indiana on Saturday. 

“We came in last night and I think I was talking to our Director of Operations today. I think there’s going to be a learning curve with all of these things and trying to learn, did we like when we came in? Next time do we want to adjust that?” Close said. “The noon tip isn’t tough because we practice at 9 a.m every single day, but you have to get up so much earlier for your pregame meal and for all the other things.”

While it’s an inconvenience for UCLA to labor through these problems, the entire Big Ten will have to adjust, with schools on the East Coast having to get familiar with visits to the West to face UCLA, USC, Washington and Oregon. 

Another complete Lauren Betts masterclass propels Bruins over Indiana

Lauren Betts was elite at both ends of the floor in UCLA’s decisive win at Indiana. Everything which makes her great was consistently displayed.

While it’s not news by any means that UCLA’s junior center Lauren Betts is one of the most dominant players in college basketball, Saturday’s win over Indiana proved to be another example of Betts’ greatness on both sides of the court.

Betts scored 25 points on 12-16 shooting with 12 rebounds while facing double-teams consistently throughout the game. Her impact on UCLA’s offense is always apparent, but her defensive impact can go a bit under the radar for the 15-0 Bruins.

UCLA’s defensive prowess was on full display in the first half on Saturday, keeping the Hoosiers at 16 points from the 1:09 mark in the first quarter to the 2:56 mark in the second quarter. Indiana scored five points in the entire second period.

“Lauren just is really difficult. She’s able to switch out and be mobile laterally when we need her to,” Close said of her center, who had two blocks and a steal on Saturday. “The two things that they (Indiana) really make a living on are their shuffle picks and back picks and the three-point shot. We were able to go over the top and funnel everything and Lauren was able to help on all of those picks.”

The 6’7” Betts certainly makes things difficult for opposing offenses, but opposing defenses try to return the favor by throwing multiple defenders Betts’ way to force the ball out of her hands. 

“In the first half I had a few possessions where I struggled figuring out the double-team and I had some turnovers but I think going back to the locker room and just figuring out how I can be patient in that and just finding my teammates,” Betts said of the double-teams. “We work on it every single day in practice, so it’s nothing new honestly to me. I’ve been dealing with it for a lot of my basketball career.”

Betts and the Bruins will look to improve to 16-0 on Tuesday in an away game against Purdue. 

No. 1 Bruins will their way to victory over Indiana, move to 15-0

The Bruins were not at their best, but they handled Indiana by 11. Cori Close spoke about the team’s toughness, which shone through on the road.

The No.1 UCLA Bruins will leave Bloomington still unbeaten after their 73-62 win on Saturday over Indiana. Even if the UCLA women’s basketball team had to sweat it out a bit, the Bruins moved to 15-0 for just the second time in program history. 

Despite the fact that UCLA led by double-digits nearly all of the fourth quarter, with Indiana not scratching to within eight points until there was less than a minute remaining in the fourth, things didn’t feel necessarily smooth for the top team in the country.

Not only did the team seem more reliant than ever on junior Lauren Betts, who had another terrific game on Saturday with 25 points and 12 rebounds, but the victory wasn’t a glamourous one. The Bruins relied more on their toughness than their talent, which is something that Bruins head coach Cori Close was happy to see. 

“Credit to them. I’m really impressed with the job that they did,” Close said of Indiana. “But I was also really impressed with our team. I’ve been really challenging them recently to be willing to win ugly. To be willing to win in a gritty way and not a pretty way.”

There have been plenty of highlights since the start of the season, but Saturday’s win felt a bit more translatable to March, when the Bruins will have to battle for wins, regardless of how much talent resides on their roster. 

“This wasn’t our best day,” Close said of her team, “but I thought the way they responded to adversity and willing to just win ugly, I’m impressed with.”

UCLA will stay in Indiana as it prepares for another Big Ten test on Tuesday against Purdue.

Three former Bruins named 2025 NFL Pro Bowl alternates

A number of UCLA football standouts received Pro Bowl recognition.

A trio of former UCLA football Bruins were named Pro Bowl alternates this week after zero past Bruins were named Pro Bowlers on Thursday.

The Green Bay Packers’ defensive tackle Kenny Clark, the Houston Texans kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn and Kansas Chiefs running back Carson Steele were all named alternates. 

Steele led the fan vote for the AFC fullback position for much of the voting process but the Pro Bowlers are selected by a combination of the fan vote, player voting and coach voting. While the fans had Steele’s back, ultimately it was the Baltimore Ravens’ fullback Patrick Ricard who earned the nod. Steele’s numbers compare favorably to Ricard’s (158 rushing yards for Steele, compared to 0 from Ricard) but Ricard is used as a traditional fullback, where Steele filled in for Kansas City at running back earlier in the season as the team dealt with injuries.

Fairbairn was named the 4th alternate among AFC kickers despite setting an NFL record for 50+ yard field goals made in a season with 13. Fairbairn has cooled off since his phenomenal start to the season, missing his only extra point of the season and having five of his six field goal misses since Halloween.

Clark, already a three-time Pro Bowler, was named as an alternate for the NFC and is also the Packers’ nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award. The defensive tackle has started all 16 games for the Packers with 35 total tackles and four tackles for losses. 

Depending on how injuries and the playoffs shake out, UCLA could see a few former Bruins in the Pro Bowl games in Orlando this February.

No. 1 Bruins will learn about themselves against Indiana

Let’s see how the Bruins respond to an earlybird start time on a Saturday in the Midwest.

The No. 1 ranked UCLA Bruins will head to the Eastern time zone for a conference game for the very first time in program history for Saturday morning’s Big Ten matchup against the 10-3 Indiana Hoosiers. UCLA women’s basketball will have to head over 2,000 miles east for their matchup against the Hoosiers and not only do the Bruins have a long flight ahead of them, they have to be ready for a 9:00 a.m. (Pacific Standard Time) tip-off. It won’t be the first time UCLA had to travel far for a game this season, after opening the season in France and heading to Hawaii for the Rainbow Wahine Showdown. It’s just the Bruins’ second Big Ten road game but the first came against old Pac-12 rival Washington up in Seattle. 

At 14-0, UCLA’s record is still without a blemish but head coach Cori Close said that it won’t stay that way unless the Bruins play team basketball more consistently.

“I’m really excited that we have such a tough opponent in a very hostile environment this very next game because I think it’s going to force us to be like ‘You want to keep winning? You better buck up,’” Close said of Saturday’s matchup. “You go into Bloomington with that level of urgency and concentration, we’re going to get beat.”

UCLA will have two games in Indiana before heading back to Westwood, facing Purdue on Tuesday. After this roadstand, the Bruins will return to the East Coast later this month for the Coretta Scott King Classic against Baylor before facing Rutgers and Maryland and then again in February to face Iowa and Wisconsin. UCLA will likely return to Indiana for the Big Ten tournament in March. 

Saturday’s game against Indiana will be aired on Fox, giving the national audience a chance to see how the Bruins respond to an early gametime.