UCLA women’s basketball: Top questions for 2024-25 season – San Bernardino County Sun

Women’s college basketball saw unprecedented viewership and attention last season and, as the No. 5 team in the country, UCLA expects to see little or no dropoff. The Bruins reached the Sweet 16 last season – and now it’s a matter of continuing the team’s upward trajectory in its first year in the Big Ten Conference.

“If we didn’t win a national championship and a banner went up and we put it all out there — we played, we competed like crazy, we got better every week — I could live with that,” head coach Corey Close said.

“If we don’t do all the little things and we don’t have a culture of growth and we don’t obsess over the processes and believe that the results will take care of themselves, it will eat you alive by your 50s and 60s.”

Here are the top questions for the UCLA women’s basketball team ahead of Monday’s season opener against Louisville in Paris:

When will Kiki Rice be healthy?

Starting point guard Kiki Rice, who averaged 13.2 points per game and 5.7 rebounds per game last season, was not seen participating in practice Tuesday afternoon. Close said the junior is day-to-day with a minor injury, but did not reveal what the injury was.

Elina Arnisalo, a native of Helsinki, Finland, was seen taking reps at the point guard position on Tuesday.

“She has some notoriety,” guard Gabriela Jaquez said of the 5-foot-10 freshman. “Not many people in the states know about Elina, which I kind of love because they’ll be like, ‘Okay.’ She is a ball player.

How busy is this junior class?

In addition to Rice and Jaques, the Bruins also return Londyn Jones and Lauren Betts, who nearly averaged a double-double last season with 14.9 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.

Jones’ hard-nosed style of play was already on display Tuesday when she crashed through chairs on the sideline while diving for a loose ball. Close said her all-around game has also improved.

“Londyn was a great player with the ball in his hands and now he’s learning how to impact the game without the ball in his hands,” Close said.

UCLA also adds transfer forwards Janiah Barker (Texas A&M) and Timea Gardiner (Oregon State) to its junior class. The 6-foot-4 Barker was the Aggies’ second-leading scorer (12.2 points) and rebounder (7.6 rebounds), and the 6-foot-3 Gardiner averaged 10.2 points off the bench before the postseason while also shooting 39. 5% from 3-point range.

Can they maintain a point balance?

Betts, a 6-foot-7 center who is tough to defend in the paint, scores a lot for UCLA, but is often double-teamed and sometimes even triple-teamed. Having other scoring threats who can take over if Betts is limited will be critical to the Bruins’ offense.

“When you have a rim protector on one end and a dominant low post player like Lauren on the other, you have to be able to create space in your offense,” Close said. “You have to have people who can attack those other seams off the bounce and create other mismatch options. But if you don’t have balance, you don’t have other people to recognize where those opportunities exist.”