The UCLA women’s basketball team’s conference opener was chaotic.
It may have been better for them that way.
In the No.10 UCLA Bruins’ 67-56 win over the Utah Utes (11-1, 0-1 Pac-12), nothing was particularly clean.
The Bruins (10-2, 1-0) committed 22 turnovers, missed 84 percent of their 3s and had 16 fouls, putting Utah in the bonus for large parts of the game.
However, the Bruins relied on a defensive energy that caused 22 turnovers. It may not have been the best look, but Utah was never able to calm down and get comfortable.
“The first half it looked like we got punched in the nose,” said Utah coach Lynne Roberts. “You can’t prepare for that unless you faced a team similarly athletic, and we haven’t this season.”
The Bruins pressured the Utes from the onset of the game. The length of the UCLA perimeter bothered the Utes as the Bruins ended with nine steals in the first half, many leading to easy baskets.
“(Sophomore guard) Kennedy Burke has incredible reach,” said coach Cori Close. “At the top of the zone when she gets a deflection it’s going to be a numbers (fast) break at the other end.”
The Bruins’ style played against the Utes’ strength.
Utah generally revolves its offense around its all-conference forward Emily Potter, a tall, fundamentally sound forward with graceful post moves.
Because of the speed that the Bruins played, it was hard for the Utes to get Potter involved. Even on the offensive end the Bruins were nonstop, often scoring before the Utes could catch their breath.
“They weren’t playing the way they wanted to play,” Close said. “(Potter) was getting tired. They were subbing her a lot just because – credit to all of our forwards – they were making her run a lot.”
On multiple occasions the Bruins would miss a shot and then immediately steal the ball back for a layup.
They threw outlet passes the length of the court, shot early in the shot clock and drove to the basket at every opportunity. Few rebounds or loose balls went uncontested or Utah ball handlers left alone.
At one point, redshirt senior guard Kari Korver violently crashed into the scorers table trying to keep a ball inbounds and no one seemed to think twice about the incident. Given the nature of the game, it didn’t seem eventful.
The Bruins’ energy in the second half was still abundant but less controlled than in the first, as the Bruins turned the ball over 13 times and were outscored by the Utes.
“In the first half I thought they were turnovers out of our game plan,” Close said. “Some of the turnovers we forced in the second half were just lucky, us being more athletic. … I felt bad for our fans – it was just ugly.”
Still, the Bruins were up by double digits for the entirety of the second half. The score was closer because Utah had made a late run when the game was past being competitive. Junior guard Jordin Canada continued to thrive, scoring 18 points on nine shot attempts.
Close may not have liked the way parts of the game were played, but it worked.