UW WBB Huskies Visit #17 Ranked UCLA Bruins, Saturday, Feb. 25th at 12PM

Fresh off a disappointing performance at USC, the Washington Huskies (15-12 overall; 7-10 PAC) visit the #17 ranked UCLA Bruins (15-3 overall; 4-2 PAC) — 12pm at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday, February 25th.

UCLA Player Preview

UCLA is a fairly young team that has

Senior 5’9″ guard Charisma Osborne is the senior leader of the Bruins.

The projected high WNBA draft pick averages a team-leading 12.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals in 33.8 minutes per Pac-12 game.

Osborne shoots 47.1% from two-point range and 30.3% from behind the three-point line.

UCLA’s number one scoring combination is Kiki Rice (assister) to Charisma Osborne (scorer).

UCLA GuardKiki Rice is a 5’11” freshman, and the #1 point guard recruit in the 2022 class — she is a gifted facilitator and a scorer off-the-dribble, although not a great jump shooter.

Rice is UCLA’s third-leading scorer; she averages 10.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.2 steals in 27.4 minutes per Pac-12 game.

Rice shoots 52.0% from two-point range and a subpar 21.2% from three-point range.

UCLA’s third, sixth and seventh most frequent scoring combinations involve Kiki Rice as the assister:

#3 Kiki Rice (assister) to Londynn Jones

#6 Kiki Rice (assister) to Emily Bessoir; and

#7 Kiki Rice (assister) to Charisma Osborne.

Londynn Jonesis a 5’4″ freshman guard that has become UCLA’s second-leading scorer in Pac-12 play; she is averaging 11.4 points, 1.4 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 0.9 steals in 22.5 minutes per Pac-12 game.

Jones is a scorer — shooting 45.5% from two-point range and 35.8% from three-point range.

UCLA’s first and second most frequent scoring combination involve Bessoir as the scorer:

Redshirt 6’4″ sophomore #11 Emily Bessoir is UCLA’S fourth-leading scorer, averaging 9.3 points, as well as 5.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.8 blocks in 26.5 minutes per Pac-12 game.

UCLA’s first and second most frequent scoring combination involve Bessoir as the scorer:

#1 Gina Conti (assister) to Emily Bessoir (scorer); and

#2 Charisma Osborne (assister) to Emily Bessoir (scorer).

A UCLA player that may be easy to overlook, but deadly to do so, is 5’11 grad transfer point guardGina Conti.

UCLA’s first and fourth most frequent scoring combinations involve Conti as the assister:

#1 Gina Conti (Assister) to Emily Bessoir (Scorer); and

#4 Gina Conti (Assister) to Londynn Jones (Scorer).

However, Gina Conti can also hit the open three-pointer.

To secure the victory over UCLA, the Huskies will need to:

(1) limit Charisma Osborne to an average offensive output, she is a seasoned veteran that can explode and take over a game if the Huskies defense does not guard her tough;

(2) control super frosh Kiki Rice to limit either her scoring or her facilitating her UCLA teammates’ scoring;

(3)neutralize UCLA’s 6’4″ big Emily Bessoir enough to prevent her from posting a dominant double-double (points/rebounds) performance;

(4) dominate the Bruins with inside-the-paint scoring by the Huskies,with a target of 30 or more points-in-the-paint total (at least 10 of those points by Dalayah Daniels); and

(5) defend the three-point line to hold UCLA’s three-point best shooters below their shooting averages, i.e., Londynn Jones (46.5%); Emily Bessoir (36.8% ); Lina Sontag (34.5%); and Gabriela Jaquez (30.8%).

A road victory over #17 UCLA by the Washington Huskies would seem unlikely, especially after UW’s struggles against USC, however UCLA’s defense is not nearly as fierce or aggressive so there is a chance.

Huskies Win Probability: 27%