UCLA routs Ohio State to set up Big Ten title showdown with USC
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INDIANAPOLIS — One saying that’s repeated this time of year in college basketball is that it’s hard to beat the same team three times in a season.
UCLA can show the saying has merit.
Or USC can show it’s as easy as A-B-C, 1-2-3.
Each team will have a chance to spin its preferred narrative when the crosstown rivalry gets renewed halfway across the country Sunday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in the Big Ten women’s basketball tournament championship game.
The second-seeded Bruins ensured they would get another rematch by dispatching third-seeded Ohio State with ease in a semifinal Saturday, building an early double-digit lead on the way to a runaway 75-46 victory.
JuJu Watkins finished with 38 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocks as USC overcame a second-half deficit to send rival UCLA to its first loss of the season.
A day after rolling up 10 points in the first quarter against Nebraska, UCLA’s Gabriela Jaquez made all three shots in the first quarter while scoring seven points in the early going against the Buckeyes.
The Bruins needed only seven minutes to build a double-digit lead that put the parts of the crowd wearing blue in a celebratory mood. After fans in one section of the arena yelled “U-C!” others across the way completed the chant by shouting back “L-A!”
There wasn’t much else to do for the balance of a game that the Bruins (29-2) led by as many as 39 points.
Guard Londynn Jones made six three-pointers on the way to a team-leading 22 points for UCLA, which shot 50.8% from the field and had four players in double-figure scoring. Jaquez and center Lauren Betts finished with 12 points each and forward Angela Dugalic added 10.
Jones’ success from long range came one day after she missed all six of her three-point attempts against Nebraska.
“I try not to really pay attention to the game before and just stay focused on what I can do and contribute in any way I can moving forward,” Jones said. “So whatever the team needs, I’m going to try to do my best to do it. Shout out to the team for getting me the ball because those looks don’t go in without them.”
The Bruins’ dominance allowed a light workload for most of the starters. Betts played 24 minutes, with Jaquez and point guard Kiki Rice logging just 18 minutes each.
“Obviously the way that our team played today,” Betts said, “it’s just an opportunity for other players to get their moment.”
Guard Jaloni Cambridge scored 10 points and was the only player to reach double figures for the Buckeyes (25-6), who shot 33.3% on the way to a season low for points.
The Trojans had been on the Bruins’ mind for much of the week, players acknowledging their desire for a third meeting long before they arrived here to open the tournament.
“I’d love to get another matchup against them,” Rice told reporters on campus before leaving Los Angeles.
Said Betts, with a laugh: “The third time’s the charm.”
USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb was more measured in her remarks after the Trojans held off Michigan in the early semifinal Saturday. Asked if she had a preference between facing UCLA or Ohio State, Gottlieb said, with a laugh, “That’s going to be a no. Whoever wins, we’ll be ready.”
It was easy to exude confidence given the way her team had played in the rivalry this season.
After pulling out a 70-61 victory over the Bruins at the Galen Center in February, the Trojans were even more dominant last week, asserting themselves early and holding up late during an 80-67 triumph.
UCLA coach Cori Close was so angry afterward that she crumpled up the stat sheet and pounded a table with her fist during postgame remarks. Two days later, Close acknowledged being in a much better mood given how her players responded to the defeat that cost the Bruins a Big Ten regular-season championship.
Rice and Jaquez called a players-only film session that allowed everyone to say whatever they wanted that was necessary to get the team rolling again.
“It’s March and you don’t really have time for feelings,” Betts said earlier this week. “It’s like, you know, we have to win games.”
Asked Saturday if there was anything eating at her about those USC losses, Close said half-jokingly that there wasn’t enough time to get into everything that bothered her.
“I think the biggest thing is we lost the toughness battle, and that hits me the deepest, I feel most responsible for,” Close said. “We’re in this together, right? I have to set the tone as a leader, and I need to put them in positions to make really good choices. But I want them to be the best version of themselves, and I want them to enjoy competitive greatness because they are leading with togetherness and toughness.
“We didn’t do that, and ultimately I take that to heart as a leader and really take responsibility of that and wanting to watch them have conquering moments in that. Not just for the game, not just for the championship, but for their lives.”
What could feel like the game of their lives will come Sunday, against a team the Bruins want to beat like nobody else.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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