LSU, UCLA Stars Explain Mutual Bad Blood Before Heated NCAA Tournament Game
The LSU Tigers and UCLA Bruins are matching up in the Elite Eight of the NCAA women's basketball tournament on March 30. While these two teams play across the country from each other in different conferences, there's some clear bad blood between them that will make Sunday's game even more compelling than it already is.
One aspect of this is that LSU knocked UCLA out of the 2024 NCAA Tournament in the Sweet Sixteen round. Therefore, UCLA has been keen to avenge that defeat for a year. And LSU Tigers star Flau'jae Johnson explained her reasoning for her team's beef toward UCLA when speaking with the media on March 29.
"Last year, we were very motivated because of an article that came out, and then their coach's affiliation with the article, retweeting it and stuff like that... because it was something that hit below just basketball," Johnson said, per an X post from LA First News' Chessa Bouche.
Johnson is referring to an article from Los Angeles Times writer Ben Bolch that was published before last year's Sweet Sixteen game, which was headlined 'UCLA-LSU is America’s sweethearts vs. its basketball villains'. The article was widely criticized within the sports world for being tone-deaf and having negative racial connotations toward LSU and its star players.
"They even called us Dirty Debutantes in the article, and that they were America's team. We took that personal, and the core of us who the article was about, we still here," Johnson added.
"They even called us Dirty Debutantes in the article & they were America's team. We took that personal & the core of us who the article was about, we still here." -Flau'Jae Johnson
— Chessa Bouche (@chessabouche) March 29, 2025
LSU vs UCLA Sweet 16 rematch tomorrow afternoon.
🍿🍿🍿@LSUwbkb @Flaujae pic.twitter.com/8NE0HWpkBn
UCLA forward Janiah Barker (who was on Texas A&M last season) opened up about her team's distaste for LSU when speaking with the media on Saturday.
"I don't like LSU, if I'm being honest," Barker said after explaining how badly her teammates want to avenge last year's NCAA Tournament loss to UCLA, per an X post from KOIN News' Brenna Greene. She later added, "I want to beat them as bad as [her UCLA teammates] do, but probably a little more because Texas A&M and LSU was a rivalry. So it's like a rivalry game for me, just reset."
Caught up with former Texas A&M turned UCLA player Janiah Barker about playing LSU in the Elite Eight.
— Brenna Greene (@BrennaGreene_) March 29, 2025
She covered A LOT of ground of all the connections between these two teams and in particular her and ended by saying:
"I don't like LSU, if I'm being honest. There's a couple… pic.twitter.com/7nlLLym2XK
Expect tensions to be running high during Sunday's Elite Eight game.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.