Betts, Rice Set the Standard After Bruins' Victory

The No. 3 UCLA women’s basketball team (25-1, 13-1 Big Ten) continued its dominant season Thursday night with a 70-55 victory over No. 25 Illinois. While the Bruins extended their win streak, junior center Lauren Betts and junior guard Kiki Rice stressed that there’s still plenty of work to be done.

Betts led the way with 22 points, seven rebounds, and six blocks, breaking Monique Billings' 2016-17 single-season UCLA record for blocks. Meanwhile, Rice came alive in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 of her 16 points to help the Bruins pull away.

Despite those individual performances, both Betts and Rice pointed to areas for improvement, particularly when it comes to rebounding and maintaining urgency throughout the game.

Betts, who anchored UCLA’s season-high 10-block performance, takes pride in her ability to impact the game defensively.

“I think defensively, that’s something that I take a lot of pride in,” Betts said. “Today, I had to switch on guards a couple of times, and I’ve never played against them. So, I guess they just kept going up, and I was just there every single time.”

On the offensive end, Betts emphasized her chemistry with Rice and how the team works to generate quality inside looks.

“A lot of our offense revolves around getting paint touches. …I think just creating catches for my teammates is something I’ve always taken pride in,” Betts said. “I think Kiki and I do a really good job through our chemistry, just making sure that she finds me inside.”

Even in victory, both Betts and Rice were critical of UCLA’s rebounding effort, acknowledging that Illinois’ aggressiveness exposed a lack of urgency from the Bruins.

“I think it was just urgency, like a lack of urgency,” Betts said. “Too many times we just rely on our length and don’t box out. Illinois was really scrappy, and they went for it. They were really aggressive, and we just have to respond and box out consistently.”

Rice echoed that sentiment, emphasizing that rebounding has been a major point of emphasis throughout the season.

“We all have to take accountability for that as players,” she said. “Our coaches preach to us every single day the importance of rebounding and how we need to get better at that. When a team that really only has a few key rebounders out-hustled us, beat us to 50-the 50s and outrebounded us, that's gonna hurt us down the stretch.”

Rice played a facilitator role early on, but as Illinois cut the deficit to 4 points in the third quarter, she recognized the need to be more aggressive offensively.

“In the second half, when I felt like I needed to look to score a little more to extend our lead, I did that,” Rice said. “It’s about reading the defense. I’m not too pressed to score all the time — it’s just about finding the best option for our team. That’s my job as a point guard — to get everyone the ball and make sure our team’s getting the best looks possible.”

With a tough road test against Iowa on Sunday, Rice and Betts are focused on leading the charge in ensuring the team plays with more passion and aggression.

“That’s something Lauren and I will talk about and just figure out how we can continue to increase that urgency and get everyone and ourselves playing with more passion, more aggression, and finding that spark again,” Rice said. “That’s something we’ll talk about and kind of relate to the team.”

As the Bruins prepare for a hostile road environment, Betts and Rice are determined to set the tone — both in their play and their leadership.

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