UCLA Women's Basketball: How A Critical Defensive Element Failed Bruins
One of the more surprising aspects of UCLA women's basketball's loss to Utah was their lapses on defense. While the Bruins had some shooting issues during parts of the 94-81 loss, this was easily the most points UCLA's defense had given up all season.
Even on a night when the Bruins held Utah's leading scorer Alissa Pili in check for a lot of the game, the Bruins' defense could not keep the rest of Utah's lineup from putting up a high-scoring affair. While overtime helped Utah reach such a high point total, it didn't help that UCLA's defense could not keep them from scoring -- especially in overtime.
UCLA head coach Cori Close reflected on these issues after the loss.
“We definitely had some defensive errors on the backside rotations and we just didn’t get close enough,” Close said. “We had to do more than one thing and we weren’t quite able to close the gap quick enough.”
Some of these lapses came at critical points in the game, including when they gave up the shot that allowed Utah to tie the game with under two seconds left in the fourth quarter to force overtime. Sure, the Bruins succeeded in limiting Pili, but it backfired when other Utes like Kennady McQueen and Dasia Young had big games.
In particular, the Bruins' defense allowed a lot of three-pointers to Utah. The Utes had a great shooting day, hitting 13-28 of their three-point attempts for a total of 39 points just off threes. Overall, four of Utah's players put up at least 16 points, and the Utes attempted 89 shots just from the field.
This could be a good wake-up call for the Bruins, who were undefeated before their three most recent games. If UCLA can settle this now and before the end of the season and March Madness, they'll be much better off in the long run.