Game of the Week: UCLA Wins Close Contest Against Michigan

No. 2 UCLA survives against No. 8 Michigan, 69-66, on Sunday. It was a close game with great performances on both sides. Let’s see how the matchup played out.

For UCLA, they were led by senior guard Kiki Rice who scored 20 points, shooting 6-12 from the field. Senior center Lauren Betts had a double-double with 16 points and 16 rebounds with five assists. Senior guard Gabriela Jaquez scored 13 points and had five rebounds and graduate guard Gianna Kneepkens scored 12 points.

For Michigan, they were led by sophomore guard Olivia Olson who scored 20 points and had seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Mila Holloway scored 15 points and had six assists and sophomore guard/forward Te’Yala Delfosse scored 10 points off the bench. Senior guard Brooke Quarles Daniels had eight rebounds in the game.

One of the reasons that could point to Michigan’s loss, was the amount of missed shots. Michigan shot 26-71, 37%, while UCLA shot 27-58, 47%. About equal, but Michigan shot a lot more and just was not hitting the basket. Same goes for three-point shots. Even though Michigan had more three pointers, they shot a lot more as well. Michigan shot 5-21 from three point range while UCLA shot 3-13 from three point range. Also, UCLA out rebounded Michigan 41-38. That said, Michigan did create more turnovers.

Still, it was a pretty even contest, so let’s look at the end of the game to see what happened. After Rice scored two free throws, she made the game 69-60 in UCLA’s favor with 29 seconds left in the game. Olson then shot a 24-foot three pointer to make the game 69-63 with 23 seconds left. UCLA then had a turnover with 22 seconds left and sophomore guard Syla Swords shot a 24-foot three pointer to make the game 69-66. UCLA then missed two free throw shots, so now it was up to Michigan to score three points again to tie it. With 13 seconds left Delfosse got the rebound, but Swords missed a 27-foot three pointer that would have tied the game. At the end, Michigan’s shooting was impressive, but the stats show the amount of missed shots they had would come to plague them at the end.

Still, both teams are having a great year, and someone had to lose this game, but UCLA is certainly a force to be reckoned with come tournament time.

Photo Attribution: Gamecock Central, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.