Kendra AndrewsMar 29, 2025, 02:11 AM ET
SPOKANE, Wash. -- Ever since UCLA lost its final home game of the season to USC at the start of the month, Lauren Betts has changed her mindset. Nothing will get in her way, she has decided.
"Just be aggressive no matter what and do whatever I need to do to help my team," she said.
That has never been more clear than through the start of the NCAA tournament, especially UCLA's 76-62 win over Ole Miss on Friday in the Sweet 16.
Betts finished with 31 points on 15-of-16 shooting and 10 rebounds, becoming the first Division I player to have 30 points, 10 rebounds and 80% FG in back-to-back games over the past 20 seasons, in regular season or postseason play.
"That's insane," Betts said.
Betts' 93.8% shooting from the floor tied the record for the highest field goal percentage ever in an NCAA tournament game. She is also the third player in the past 25 years with multiple 30-point, 10-rebound games in a single NCAA tournament and the first since Brittney Griner in 2013; the other player to do it was Elena Delle Donne in 2012. All three of them did so in consecutive games.
"[We] have a generational player on your team," UCLA coach Cori Close said. "She's not only dominant for herself, but she makes everybody on the floor better, and so you just want to put the ball in her hands as many ways and as many times as possible. ... But Lauren is a dominant player on both sides of the ball. ... That's why she's one of the top players in the country, and that's why she makes us better, and that's why we're in the Elite Eight."
Heading into the game, Close didn't feel that Betts had to touch the ball on every possession, she had to be involved with the play somehow. If she wasn't, it meant Ole Miss' defense did something that was taking the Bruins out of their normal actions.
Quickly it became apparent that the Rebels couldn't do that.
"Whatever we tried didn't work," Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said. "And it didn't work for 33 other teams -- or 32 other teams either, it seems like. ... Anytime they got in a bind, they just threw it to her. That is a luxury. You don't have to run a play. ... You can just throw it into your dominant post player. And she is that."
The Rebels threw a handful of double-teams at Betts, but for the most part played her one-on-one and relied on their pressure on UCLA's guards to make it difficult. In the first half, Ole Miss had some success, trailing only by one at halftime. Betts admitted the pace of the game had her "dying" early on.
But in the third quarter, UCLA made some adjustments and blew the game open, mainly playing through the middle of the floor more.
They started the quarter on an 8-0 run, punctuated by Kiki Rice's first 3-pointer of the night -- forcing Ole Miss to call a timeout. Rice scored or assisted on all eight UCLA points during the run, and UCLA went 7-of-10 off of Rice's passes along. Rice along with Londyyn Jones combined for 20 points in the second half, rather than their two in the first half.
Still, Betts' presence was the it-factor for her team, as the Bruins scored 35% better with her on the court than when she was off of it.
"She's so dominant every day in practice, and I know you guys don't see it, but it's just like every single day she comes with the same consistency," Rice said. "When we do get in games, it's like throw the ball up to Lauren. She will score, get me an assist. But I think just having her on my team, I'm so grateful to have her on my team and not be playing against her."
As dominant as Betts was on offense, she was equally as impactful on defense, limiting the Rebels to 2-of-16 shooting on shots she contested. Until early in the fourth quarter, Betts single-handedly outscored the entire Ole Miss team in the paint.
"I take a lot of pride in my defense," Betts said. "That's something that the coaches have always held me accountable to, and I think that's something that I just try to bring to my team -- that competitive edge when it comes to defending."
After playing in their third consecutive Sweet 16, Betts' historic performance propels the Bruins to their first Elite Eight since 2018.
They will face the same LSU team that knocked them out of last year's third round in a brutal loss, one that saw UCLA give up a three-point lead with two minutes to go and the Tigers win by nine.
That loss left a sour taste in their mouths, Rice said. Getting past the Sweet 16 was a hump the Bruins needed to get over. But their aspirations are bigger than the Elite Eight, and they aren't the program that believes they could accomplish that.
"UCLA looks like a team that can win the national championship, because who's going to stop [Betts]?" McPhee-McCuin said. "They're going to have their work cut out for them. ... But they are very tough as long as [Betts] is playing."
