UCLA Women's Basketball: Why Cori Close Apologized To Fans After Monday Win
In a gritty, low-scoring affair Monday night at Pauley Pavilion, your UCLA Bruins triumphed over the visiting Colorado Buffaloes with a 53-45 victory, improving their overall record to 22-5.
Although the Bruins made just 41.7% of their field goals last night, including 31.3% of their triples, their punishing defense held the now-20-7 Buffaloes to just 28.6% overall field goal shooting (29.4% from deep).
Bruins head coach Cori Close nevertheless felt a need to explain the low-scoring night to fans, per Thuc Nhi Nguyen of The Los Angeles Times.
“Obviously it was not a very pretty offensive game and I apologize to all fans and people watching for that,” Close said. “But we said, ‘Hey, we have to be willing to win it with our defense and win ugly,’ and that’s exactly what we found a way to do.”
“A lot of times when your offense isn’t clicking, it’s very easy to let that be a distraction to your defense,” Close continued. “I’m really proud of how we finished with that: with all guts.”
Just two Bruins finished with double digit scoring. Sophomore guard Kiki Rice led the way with 20 points on 6-of-16 shooting from the field (1-of-3 from distance) and 7-of-9 shooting from the foul line, along with nine rebounds, four dimes, three blocks and two steals. Fifth-year senior Charisma Osborne notched 14 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the floor (2-of-6 from long range) and two boards.