You’d imagine that all is well for the No. 1 UCLA women’s basketball team after moving to 17-0 on the season Wednesday with an 83-67 win over Penn State. However, head coach Cori Close and Wooden Award candidate Lauren Betts both voiced their frustrations in the postgame press conference following the win.
“I didn’t think we played well enough collectively to win,” Close said after setting a program record for most wins to start a season. “Credit to Penn State, I thought they were the aggressors. I thought we were the aggressors in the second quarter and that was it.”
UCLA outscored the Nittany Lions 27-11 in the second quarter with the two teams tying 56-56 in the other three quarters. There’s been a lot for the team to deal with off the court, with the Los Angeles area fires, but Betts didn’t view that as a reason to excuse sloppy preparation and play.
“I just think we didn’t show up the way we needed to today,” Betts said. “I’m not trying to crap all over my team, I just think that in practice, preparing for this game, we could have done a little better and I thought it just showed a little bit today. I just know how capable we are as a team and I know what we’re trying to do.”
Betts certainly did her fair share with a 22-point, 12-rebound double-double and matching a program-record seven blocks. Betts led UCLA in each statistical category in the win. The Bruins also moved to 6-0 in the Big Ten, one of three teams still unbeaten alongside Ohio State and USC.
UCLA is 17-0, but the goal for this season is not to be 17-0. It is to make the Final Four. Cori Close and Lauren Betts are holding UCLA up to a Final Four standard, and they know that standard wasn’t reached against Penn State. Making sure the Bruins are ready to play elite basketball when it matters is the constant focus of a season which is overflowing with opportunity and potential, but also extreme pressure. Close and Betts know UCLA has to be prepared to deal with pressure when it really matters in March.