UCLA Women's Basketball: Bruins Slip Down Week 11 Power Rankings After USC Loss
Following the first loss of the 2023-24 NCAA season for your UCLA Bruins women's basketball program, a 73-65 defeat against superstar freshman guard JuJu Watkins and the rest of her USC Trojans on Sunday, a few national pundits have docked the Blue and Gold for slipping to a still-awesome 14-1 record.
The Bruins dipped from second to fourth place among the nation's upper tier of NCAA clubs in Michael Voepel of ESPN's ranking, now falling behind Kamilla Cardoso's Colorado Buffaloes and Caitlin Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes. The still-unbeaten South Carolina Gamecocks (15-0) remain Voepel's top-ranked team.
"UCLA was bound to have at least one off game, and it came against its crosstown rival Sunday," Voepel writes. "With Lauren Betts coming off the bench due to illness, the Bruins never really looked like themselves in the 73-65 loss to USC. They made just 4 of 22 3-point attempts and struggled in multiple areas: 32 fouls, 22 turnovers and just 12 assists. That's not a formula for winning. But it was just one game, so UCLA doesn't fall much."
Autumn Johnson of NCAA.com, meanwhile, also drops UCLA to fourth. Although she, too, has moved Iowa ahead of the Bruins, Johnson has elevated USC, fresh off the win, into third place, and Iowa into second, also behind South Carolina. She has North Carolina State slotted in at fifth and the Buffs sixth.
"Its undefeated steak has been snapped by the Trojans," Johnson writes.