Close Challenges UCLA to Step Up Despite Big Win

The No. 3 UCLA women’s basketball team (25-1, 13-1 Big Ten) secured its 25th victory of the season Thursday night, defeating No. 25 Illinois (21-6, 11-5 Big Ten) 70-55 at Pauley Pavilion.

While the Bruins took care of business, Coach Cori Close didn’t shy away from addressing her team’s inconsistencies and areas for improvement, despite standout performances from junior center Lauren Betts and junior guard Kiki Rice.

Betts led all scorers with 22 points, seven rebounds, and six blocks, surpassing Monique Billings’ 2016-17 program record for most blocks in a single season. Betts now has 67 blocks on the season, further solidifying her presence as a dominant force in the paint.

UCLA also recorded a season-high 10 blocks as a team, a testament to its defensive presence.

“Obviously, a huge accomplishment by Lauren. I mean, to break Moe Billings’ record is a tremendous compliment and obviously has made a huge difference in how we can defend and things that we can do,” Close said. “I actually love the ways that she was able to switch out on guards and be able to keep them in front as well. So just huge props for how she defends in that way.”

Still, Close wasn’t entirely satisfied.

“It’s sort of a weird dichotomy I’m feeling right now," she said. "On the one hand, I’m really proud that they found a way. And this time of year, it’s about finding a way to get two top-25 wins, to grind it out, and to have missing pieces and find ways to adjust and do things that lead to winning. And we did enough of those things to lead to winning. On the other hand, we are not playing with the kind of fervor, passion, focus, aggression that I’ve seen from our team. And we’ve got to figure that out really fast.”

The Bruins struggled in the third quarter, scoring just 11 points and allowing Illinois to cut the deficit to four. Close saw this as another test of her team’s resilience — especially after UCLA’s only loss of the season against USC earlier this month.

“I think the bottom line is, if we haven’t found discomfort after getting punched in the gut across town, then we’ve got bigger problems, right?” Close said. “And we did. We got punched in the gut. And we didn’t respond and have the kind of toughness and next-play speed that I have seen from this team. So it’s not like it’s not in them. It’s just that we got punched in the mouth and you gotta respond. And what are you gonna do about it?”

Close stressed that the season isn’t about one loss or one setback, but rather the bigger picture.

“We lost that battle, but our commitment is to the war. And so how does that inform us?” she said. “I think we have done some good things in how we’ve moved on and learned some things from that.”

One of the biggest areas of emphasis has been transition defense, something Close saw improvement in on Thursday.

“We really didn’t give up baskets in transition defense the same way,” she said. “That’s a big focus of something that we’ve been working on.”

While Betts made history, Rice played a pivotal role in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 of her 16 points as UCLA outscored Illinois, 27-16, in the final frame.

UCLA’s next challenge comes on Sunday when the Bruins travel to Iowa City to face Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The game presents not only a tough opponent but also a hostile road environment as UCLA prepares to compete in one of the most challenging atmospheres in college basketball.

Close believes her team must elevate its intensity to match the energy they’ll face on the road.

“Well, I think that the hard part is that I didn’t think we had great movement at all, but at the same time … part of that was because we weren’t getting defensive stops and rebounds,” Close said. “Every time we got a defensive stop and rebound, we were able to play for the pace and the style that we want to play.”

For Close, the message is clear — UCLA has the talent, but it must bring urgency and consistency to maintain its status as a national championship contender.

“We just were a step late on everything,” she said. “There’s some technical sides I could talk about, but honestly, it pales in comparison to us just playing with the pace and passion that we’re used to playing with. And we’ll get back to that.”

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