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.