South Carolina has the most recent national title. Notre Dame has the reputation. USC had the signature star and the celebrity crowd. But UCLA won the weekend, the state and the top spot in college basketball.
Great things are happening in Westwood.
Bruins coach Cori Close has spent the last few seasons building a powerhouse. In 2021, she signed three top recruits, including the No. 2 player in Kiki Rice and a swaggy sharp shooter in Londynn Jones. Then the Bruins added Lauren Betts, a transfer from Stanford, in 2023 and two more transfers, Timea Gardiner (Oregon State) and Janiah Barker (Texas A&M) heading into this season. They’ve got freshman Elina Aarnisalo, who has years of pro experience in Finland and runs the offense like she was born in a UCLA uniform. Gabriela Jaquez is a do-it-all player who makes all the right plays and gets very little credit. Then there’s Charlisse Leger-Walker, another high-scoring transfer who has yet to see the court due to injury.
This team had everything it needed except a signature moment. That finally arrived on Sunday, when the Bruins broke South Carolina’s 43-game winning streak, one that dated back to the 2023 Final Four, in an emphatic 77-62 victory. The Bruins had never defeated a No. 1 team. They have now. And in doing so, the Bruins have taken their place atop the throne of women’s college basketball.
“This means a lot, because [South Carolina coach] Dawn Staley has set the tone for what women’s basketball excellence should be over the last several years,” Close said.
Welcome to the big time, Bruins.
What stood out about the team’s win is that no one player stood out. They won with a balanced effort. Jones led the team with 15 points and Aarnisalo added 13. Betts, Rice and Jaquez each had 11, and Barker added eight. The performance was a coach’s dream, with everyone doing their job and no one doing too much.
“We have a lot of great tools,” Close said. “I loved that at different moments there were different people making big plays. Everyone had a moment and we wouldn’t have done this if we didn’t have selflessness and an elite work ethic.”
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PLUS: UNC gets off the mat and Cooper Flagg grows upWomen’s basketball has been growing in L.A. for a while now. Before Sunday, it looked like USC would be the team to break through. The Trojans topped UCLA twice last season, including once in a classic double-overtime Pac-12 Tournament showdown. They also made it to the Elite Eight for the first time in 30 years while UCLA lost in the Sweet 16.
JuJu Watkins is a frontrunner for player of the year — and she should be — with an average of 22 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 3.4 steals and 2.6 blocks per game. The Trojans also brought in Stanford transfer Kiki Iriafen, who is expected to be the No. 2 pick in the WNBA draft, as well as the top recruiting class in the country. Their games are a celebrity affair, with Snoop Dogg and Michael B. Jordan showing up to watch the loss against Notre Dame — a team that’s also going to move up the rankings. Coming into the weekend, it looked like USC would be the sport’s glamour team. The Trojans may have more star power, but UCLA is the team to beat.
The margin of UCLA’s win over South Carolina may have been a surprise, but this was hardly a huge upset. The Bruins have been ranked in the top five of the AP poll all season. They’re supposed to win big games. People who don’t follow this sport closely may not be aware of that — but they are now. “If you were sleeping on us, stop,” Betts said after the win with a smile and a shake of the head. “We are incredible.”
Betts didn’t always have that confidence. Last season, Close begged Betts to demand the ball from her teammates. Betts, who hadn’t had the freshman season she wanted at Stanford, didn’t want to upset anyone when she came to a new program. But UCLA needs her to be the best player on the floor and this season she has been. Betts gets lost behind Watkins, UConn’s Paige Bueckers and Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles in the player of the year conversation, but she shouldn’t. The 6-foot-7 center is averaging 21.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game and shooting an astounding 72.2 percent from the field. And while the win against South Carolina was a balanced one, Betts is the axle that turns the UCLA wheel. The Gamecocks designed their defense around stopping Betts, packing the paint and trying to prevent her from getting the ball. She finished with 11 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and four blocks, but her presence alone was enough to change a game. The Bruins knocked down 11 three-pointers, with Jones going 5 of 5 from beyond the arc. That’s all thanks to the attention that Betts demands and the space she creates.
With Betts leading the way, the Bruins are likewise creating space for themselves at the top of the women’s college basketball world. Come Monday morning, they’ll be the easy choice to be the No. 1 team in the AP poll. There is a long way to go between here and Tampa, site of the 2025 Final Four, but on Sunday the Bruins took a very big step in the right direction.
City of angels? It’s the city of Bruins now and they’re coming for the rest of the country.
