UCLA star Kiki Rice shares honest take on losing to JuJu Watkins’ USC twice
UCLA star Kiki Rice has helped the Bruins reach the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament and win 34 games this season. But the win right before March Madness began – topping then-No. 2 USC in the Big Ten Tournament final – gave them an extra boost of confidence.
The guard reflected on losing to JuJu Watkins’ USC twice while speaking to Shannon Sharpe and Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson in a "Nightcap" YouTube podcast shared on Wednesday.
"This whole season, we were ranked No. 1 for most of the year, obviously a top team in the country, but I do think losing to a team twice is hard," Rice said (Timestamp: 2:00).
"And SC is obviously a great team, JuJu is great and they have a lot of great players, but to finally, like, to beat them in our conference championship and to kind of get over that hump, it definitely kind of gave us some more confidence just because we knew ... we finally kind of beat the one team that had beaten us this whole year, and now we're just like kind of playing out the rest of the season, but we were really confident at that point, for sure."
UCLA lost 71-60 at USC on Feb. 13 and 80-67 at home in the regular-season finale on March 2. However, the Bruins got their revenge, defeating JuJu's team 72-67 in the final of the Big Ten Tournament.
Meanwhile, the No. 1 overall seed UCLA Bruins are through to the Final Four after claiming a 72-65 victory over the No. 3 seed LSU Tigers – the team that knocked them out of the tourney last season – in the Elite Eight.
Kiki Rice had eight points and eight assists against LSU, while three other Bruins scored in double digits: Lauren Betts (17 points, seven rebounds), Gabriel Jaquez (18 points, eight rebounds) and Timea Gardiner (15 points).
UCLA (34-2) had beaten nine ranked teams in the regular season and the Big Ten Tournament, including then-No. 1 South Carolina 77-62 in November, but couldn't beat the Trojans until the third meeting.
Kiki Rice wins Elite 90 award
Kiki Rice has been rewarded for her performance this season with the Elite 90 award, which was presented on Wednesday evening in Tampa.
The Elite 90 award recognizes student-athletes who excel both academically and athletically. The award is given to those who have achieved national championship levels in their sport while maintaining the highest academic standards among their peers.
Rice will be looking to help her team to the NCAA championship game when they battle the No.2 seed UConn Huskies on Friday at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.