UCLA and Ole Miss started the season together in Paris, with the Bruins facing Louisville and the Rebels taking on USC. Now, they’ll be on the court together as one team ends the other’s 2024-25 campaign.
Ole Miss plays aggressive defense, forcing turnovers on more than a quarter of opposing possessions. The Rebels are physical on offense, attacking the paint and the glass and getting to the foul line more than 20 times per game.
They win the possession game and take about 12 more field-goal attempts than their opponents. Even as Baylor had a good shooting night in the second round (45.8 percent from the field), Ole Miss edged out the Bears on their home court because of seven extra offensive rebounds and 10 more free-throw attempts.
The problem for the Rebels is that UCLA is bigger and more physical. The Bruins dominate the offensive boards with Lauren Betts and forwards Janiah Barker and Gabriela Jaquez crashing for second chances.
They’re fourth in paint points per game, which they supplement with consistent shooting from beyond the arc (four players shoot at least 35 percent on 3-pointers). Richmond coach Aaron Roussell noted that the Spiders were prepared for what UCLA could do inside, but it was once the Bruins started raining 3s that their second-round game got out of hand.
The battle to watch inside is between Betts and Ole Miss center Christeen Iwuala, who spent her first two seasons at UCLA. Iwuala knows Betts’ tendencies as well as anyone, but if she could hang with her former teammate, she’d probably still be a Bruin. Furthermore, Iwuala’s presence on the Rebels means the UCLA coaching staff has been locked in on Ole Miss game tape all season.
“We’ve tuned in as a team to a lot of games, starting with in Paris at the very beginning of the year,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “In fact, (in) our staff meetings all the time, (assistant coach Tasha) Brown will say, ‘Well, if we were Ole Miss, we would be defending like this, this and this’; if I had a dollar for every time she said that. We are going to have to get our act together for the Sweet 16 game. But we’ve been preparing all the way.”
The bet is that Betts wins her matchup with UCLA’s perimeter players giving her just enough of a boost from long range for the Bruins to make their first Elite Eight since 2018.
Pick: UCLA