On the scoreboard, UCLA women’s basketball notched a relatively comfortable win over Indiana in an early-afternoon game in Bloomington. The Bruins handled a multi-time-zone road trip fairly smoothly in terms of the flow and scoreline of the game. UCLA and Lauren Betts led by 12 at halftime, by 12 at the end of the third quarter, by 12 with four minutes left in the game. They were steadily in the lead by seven or more points. The final score: 73-62.
Indiana never got especially close down the stretch. The Hoosiers pulled within 10 with under four minutes remaining. That was as close as IU got until the final 45 seconds, when IU moved within nine. This was a clear-cut and decisive win for the Bruins.
UCLA did not have to deal with any late-game drama or stress. This was a smooth ride to the finish line purely in terms of scoreboard pressure, because there wasn’t any to be found in Assembly Hall. To that extent, UCLA did what it was supposed to do, and we don’t need to make too much of a case about it.
However: Indiana did not play well or shoot well. The Hoosiers missed a lot of open and makeable shots. They made only four 3-pointers. Some of them were contested by UCLA defenders, but others were open. Indiana played this game knowing it had to shoot really well to win. Hoosier shooters squeezed the ball tightly and did not relax. UCLA does exert that kind of pressure on opponents. The Bruins are so good and so physically formidable that opponents put pressure on themselves to be perfect, and they often fail to finish plays against UCLA’s size and length. UCLA won on Saturday in a way it will win many more times this season: The opponent realizes every possession is so important that it nervously shoots the ball and can’t finish plays.
There’s nothing wrong with winning because the opponent fails, but that’s the lesson here: What happens when the opponent is relaxed and does play better?
UCLA will need to be ready when that happens, especially on the road.