Kiki Rice gets candid on stopping Paige Bueckers in Final Four clash
Paige Bueckers has been hot in the NCAA Tournament, but Kiki Rice believes the UCLA Bruins have a plan to slow down the UConn standout on Friday night’s national semifinal.
Bueckers has scored 105 points combined in her last three games, including a career-high 40 points against Oklahoma in the Sweet 16. While junior guard Kiki Rice lauded the UConn guard’s performance, she also trusts her team’s plan.
"Paige is a fantastic player. You're not gonna shut down players of her caliber, but I think a lot of it is about just following the gameplan… We’ll do what we can but I have a lot of trust in our game plan and the defenders that we are going to be able to put on her," Kiki Rice said.
The Bruins arrive at the matchup as the top-ranked team in the nation. However, most of the talk has been about the UConn Huskies and Bueckers, who is playing lights out in her final tournament.
UCLA has some star power of its own. Lauren Betts averaged 20 points, 9.6 rebounds, and three blocks per game, while Kiki Rice scores at a 12.9 point per game clip, with 5.1 assists per game.
UCLA lost only twice during the season, against the USC Trojans. However, Cori Close’s squad got revenge, defeating the Trojans in the Big Ten Tournament.
UConn is looking for its 12th NCAA title and hasn’t lost since a Feb. 6 defeat to the Tennessee Lady Vols. They have won 14 games in a row and every game in the NCAA Tournament by double digits.
Kiki Rice, Bruins draw motivation from being underdogs
Despite the Bruins holding the No. 1 rank in the nation with a 34-2 record, they are 7.5-point underdogs. Rice and the Bruins are taking the slight to light a fire.
"I think a lot of people don't expect us to win. We're ready, we're prepared, and use that as motivation," Kiki Rice said per ESPN’s Katie Barnes.
Perhaps the biggest reason for the perception that the Huskies should win by more than two possessions is both teams’ experience at this stage. While UConn is the most storied program in women’s basketball, UCLA is making its Final Four debut.
The national semifinal will be played tomorrow at 9:30 pm ET in Tampa. Whichever school prevails will face the winner of South Carolina and Texas, who will face off earlier on Friday.