The ball was moving for the No. 1-ranked UCLA Bruins on Wednesday in their 86-70 win over Michigan. The victory moved the Bruins to 3-0 in Big Ten play. UCLA racked up 29 assists, their second-most in a game this season, behind their 30-assist game against Long Beach State in a 102-51 win for the Bruins. Junior guard Kiki Rice certainly did her part, with 10 assists in 31 minutes while junior center Lauren Betts added five assists, many of which came out of Michigan double-teams on Betts in the post.
“A lot of that credit goes to Lauren,” Close said of Betts in the postgame interview. “Every time we got Lauren a touch, she didn’t necessarily score every time in the first half but we created a rotation and then we got an assist or an easy bucket off of her handling of double-teams.”
UCLA turned the ball over 15 times in the game, just one less than their season average, while boosting their assists per game to 21.1 on the season. The 15 turnovers was a major step in the right direction, following the Bruins turning the ball over 26 times last week against Nebraska.
“When we start to try and do stuff on our own and think about ourselves, we’re not a good team,” Close said. “We’re just a talented bunch of individuals.”
Kiki Rice made sure the talented individuals worked together on the court with her 10 assists against Michigan. UCLA is currently fourth in the nation in assists but is 23rd when it comes to the team’s assist to turnover ratio at 1.32. The Bruins return to Big Ten action on Saturday on the road against Indiana.
Kiki Rice handing out more dimes needs to be a constant feature for UCLA women’s basketball. If Rice can become a 10-assist player in more games (she currently averages four per game), UCLA’s Final Four dream will very likely come true.