The No. 8 Michigan women’s basketball team was in prime position. Following two missed free throws from UCLA guard Gabriela Jacquez, the Wolverines trailed by just three points.
Michigan called timeout to advance the ball, and set up its final shot to tie the game and force overtime. With 13.3 seconds left, sophomore guard Syla Swords inbounded the ball to sophomore guard Mila Holloway and prepared to get open.
“We wanted to do one of two things,” UCLA head coach Cori Close said after the game. “We either
wanted them to have to make a play towards the basket because we knew a two didn’t hurt us, or we actually wanted to try to foul. … We said we don’t even want a three-point attempt, and if we do, it’s going to be really far, and it’s going to be contested.”
The Bruins didn’t accomplish either of their two goals. Without a foul or a two-point attempt, UCLA was forced into its third defensive tactic: contesting a long-range three-pointer.
Swords caught the ball from Holloway near the left wing, and launched a distance three-pointer with the arms of 6-foot-4 forward Angela Dugalic and 6-foot-7 center Lauren Betts in her face as the clock wound down.
But Swords’ shot fell short, and with it, so did the Wolverines’ upset chances. No. 8 Michigan (20-4 overall, 11-2 Big Ten) dropped its first home game of the season to No. 2 UCLA (23-1, 13-0), 69-66, in the Wolverines’ third three-point top-five loss of the season.
“UCLA is one of the best teams in the country, and we did a heck of a job,” head coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “(We) put ourselves in a position to tie the game at the end. It was a game of runs. We came out and did a great job in the start, and then (in) the second and third quarter, they kind of took advantage of us. And then the fourth quarter, I thought we really rallied back.”
Barnes Arico’s summary is spot-on. The Bruins fought their way to their tightest victory of the season and first single-digit win since Dec. 28, in part a result of Michigan’s gritty play.
“We had three goals, and one was to hold them under 16 per quarter,” Barnes Arico said. “We did that for two quarters. … They are plus-16 in their last four games on the rebounding battle, okay, we lost by three. … And then we wanted to control the pace and have a better assist-to-turnover ratio than them, and we forced 13 turnovers, and we only had nine.”
With 10 assists and nine turnovers, Michigan met its third goal compared to UCLA’s 13:13 ratio. The Wolverines held the Bruins under 70 points for the first time all season — including a paltry 3-for-13 clip from three-point range — and set up a strong chance to win down the stretch following a 6-0 game-closing run.
Despite surrendering a 16-point, 16-rebound double-double to Betts, Michigan hung tight in the post and gritty 5-foot-8 guard Brooke Quarles Daniels secured more offensive rebounds than All-American Betts.
But on the flipside of those successes were UCLA’s own goals, centered around defense. Last season, Swords dropped 30 points against the Bruins. Sunday afternoon, she scored just eight, her only three of the second half coming in the final 30 seconds of play.
UCLA guard Kiki Rice had the assignment of dulling Swords’ threat, and with the Bruins’ length on help defense, Michigan struggled to screen Swords open.
“I thought we did a great job of helping off some of those other players to give support to the matchup,” Close said. “So if Kiki had the matchup, if Lauren was guarding the player that was setting her the screen, I thought she did an excellent job of stepping up and making that next play more difficult, and giving Kiki a moment to catch up behind the play. … Everyone in the gym knows that they’re trying to find Olson and Swords shots, and we know it too, and it’s still really difficult to stop.”
UCLA pressured Michigan’s ball-handlers high, hedging screens to double three-point shooters and contest shots. The Wolverines rarely got the ball into the paint, limiting their inside-out offense. The Bruins drained Michigan’s possessions down to the end of the shot clock, resulting in lower-percentage late-clock looks.
“We didn’t shoot the ball like we normally shoot the ball,” Barnes Arico said. “Why do you think that is? Their defense.”
The Bruins credited their defensive adjustments with the primary momentum flip in the game, and the enhanced intensity resulted in the second and third quarters yielding a +13 UCLA margin.
Yet in the final minute, with — as Close herself admitted — everyone in the building knowing Olson and Swords were going to put Michigan on their backs, the sophomores sank their shots, Olson even marking her 1,000th career point as third-fastest in program history.
Down 11 points with 2:24 remaining, hardly anyone believed the Wolverines could come back. Olson, Swords and sophomore guard Mila Holloway pieced together a 12-4 run to set up one last chance.
But on the final shot, the Bruins’ defense did just enough to spoil the Wolverines’ upset.
