The Minnesota Golden Gophers women’s basketball team goes for back to back ranked wins after snapping a 37-game losing streak to ranked teams with a 63-62 win over #21 USC last Sunday. The test is much tougher Wednesday night as #3 UCLA comes to the barn along with one of the best players in the country in 6’7 post Lauren Betts.
#3 UCLA Bruins
Record: 15-1 (5-0)
NET Rank: 2
Minnesota Golden Gophers
Record: 12-4 (3-2)
NET Rank: 14
KEYS TO A GOPHER WIN:
Neutralize Lauren Betts:
UCLA has a loaded roster with tons of players who can hurt you, but the reigning defensive player of the year will be the toughest that Minnesota will need to try and shut
down. She has three inches on Sophie Hart who will be tasked to try to initially keep her in check, and will need a great effort from Finau Tonga as well. Minnesota did a great job shutting down Northwestern’s Grace Schmidt who was 6’4 and was one of the top scorers in the conference with lots of different defensive looks, and Minnesota will likely need to replicate that performance Wednesday night against Betts. Betts has six double-doubles on the season and went for 18 points and 10 rebounds with four blocks and five steals in a win over Nebraska last weekend. Even if you do shut Betts down, the Bruins have a ton of other players who can hurt you led by senior Gianna Kneepkens from Duluth who transferred to UCLA from Utah this summer.
Make Your Shots—Especially Threes:
If the Gophers are going to pull off the upset they are going to need to be on fire from the field. While Grace Grocholski has been amazing for Minnesota over the last few games, she can not do it alone. Minnesota will need the best games of the season from Mara Braun, Amaya Battle, and Tori McKinney. There is no room for error. If all four of the Gophers stars are not producing on Wednesday night, the Bruins will walk out of the Barn with a fairly comfortable win.
Play Your Best Defense Possible:
Minnesota has been generally great on the defensive side of the ball this season. Minnesota leads the nation with 11 games holding opponents to 50 points or fewer. No other team in the country has more than eight such games, and the next closest team in the Big Ten is Maryland at seven games. Unfortunately many of those games came against sub-par competition. In Big Ten play the Gophers rank 4th in the conference allowing 65.4 points per game behind just Iowa, UCLA and Michigan. But the Bruins have scorers in droves. They have four players in double figures and one other at 9.7 points per game. The Bruins also are one of the best rebounding teams in the conference and the nation. Minnesota NEEDS to crash the boards, shut down all second chance opportunities. The Gophers rank #1 in the conference in offensive rebounding, and UCLA is #4. There is no room for error.
Prediction:
If the Gophers are going to pull off the upset it will take a complete and total performance from the entire roster. They will need to hit shots, play amazing defense and rule the boards. This Bruins team is really good— defeating the USC team the Gophers just beat by 34 at the start of the month. While the Gophers can hopefully keep it close, they probably don’t have the consistent enough shooting from the entire roster to keep up and UCLA pulls away in the second half. Bruins win 79-62.
Next Up:
Minnesota heads to the Pacific Northwest for a pair of games playing at Washington Sunday and at Oregon Wednesday.
