BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 7, 2026

Cori Close

Lauren Betts

Kiki Rice

Gainbridge Fieldhouse

UCLA Bruins

Postgame Press Conference

UCLA -72, Ohio State - 62

THE MODERATOR: We welcome UCLA to the dais. Coach Cori Close and student-athletes Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice.

Coach, if you would make an opening statement.

CORI CLOSE: Thank you, media, for being here. We appreciate you. First of all, Ohio State, they play so hard. I just think they just keep coming at you over and over again.

I thought there were plenty of times where we had an opportunity to maybe stretch it out, and they created a quick turnover, got an offensive board.

I just want to say they're a really good team. The way that their guards fight to get around, especially with our four-player mismatch, I just think they showed a lot of fight, and I think they're going to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

Really proud of our team, the composure that they had. We would love to make it a little cleaner and be able to find touches for certain mismatches that we were trying to take advantage of, but again, I credit Ohio State for making that difficult for us. They weren't going to let us just run the things that we wanted to run without forcing some situations where we just had to get downhill and make plays.

I was really proud of only 12 turnovers. We had 7 at the half and really challenged them to do a great job of taking care of the basketball. I only had 5 in the second half.

Secondly, I really challenged them at halftime about how we were rotating and making sure we didn't give up threes. They only got two threes in the second half and limited them to only six attempts, and I thought those two things were really good halftime adjustments that were important to us.

Really proud of our team, and we get a chance to pursue another 1-0.

Q. Kiki and Lauren, Coach wanted you to come out stronger today and be the aggressor. She made a big point of that in the post-game yesterday. Was that in your mind? Obviously you had a great start, up 14-3. How important was that in setting the tone early?

KIKI RICE: That was definitely important. We reiterated over the last 24 hours every game you have to come out strong. Every team is going to be a high-level team. So you don't want to get down early. That was going to be important for us against Ohio State and how we responded to that. We just took it possession by possession and had a lot of detailed focus and didn't let any possession slip by.

Q. Both you guys had good games, but five players on your team scored in double figures. Can you talk about how important the depth is in these important games to really extend your lineup?

LAUREN BETTS: Yeah, it's super important. I think this team is really special. This group of girls that we have together is not normal. To be in these type of games, you're definitely going to need every single person. I'm proud of how everyone had the confidence to step up and do what was needed when we needed them.

Yeah, it speaks to the depth of our team. It's just super special. I'm just really proud of how everyone came out today. Even the people that didn't play much, we talked about it in the locker room. They came out and got us a passion play. That means a lot about no matter who was in the game, they came out and tried to help any way they could.

Q. I thought that Angela and Sienna off the bench were tremendous. Can you talk about their contributions today in helping you win this game and just what they bring off the bench?

KIKI RICE: For sure, they were both huge. I think that was really, really obvious and helpful for us. Sienna came off the bench and had a ton of really, really good defensive plays. That's an area she's been working on a ton. But the way she got deflections, slid her feet and had some really smart plays down the stretch and helped us and motivated us to go on a run. That was super great.

Ange, every time she come in the game, she gives us a sparks, the way she offensive rebounds, she hustles, defends, knocks down shots. The way she comes in and impacts the game is something we're really grateful to have off the bench, and she makes us better every single time she's on the floor.

Q. Kiki, like your Coach touched on in the opening statement, there was a lot of opportunities for Ohio State to kind of narrow the gap. They got it down to ten, nine continuously. You showed a lot of poise to come up with a big bucket and get a good inside look for Lauren on her open three. As the head of the snake on the head as the point guard, what do you look for in those moments to keep your team calm and control the pace of the game?

KIKI RICE: You can see we have a veteran group. In those moments where they went on a run or seems like a key possession, we just have a ton of confidence in each other to make the right play, to knock down the shot, to get the look we want to get. I do think it's about figuring out who do we want to get the shot to, what do we want to force?

As guards, especially Charlisse and I, we've got to be confident in that and Ohio State is a really good defensive team and they play aggressive. It's about taking care of the ball and get what we want. I think we have a veteran presence. We're fine in those moments with teams going on runs.

Q. Gianna had a huge game, 13 points, three threes, and great defense. Can you speak to what her impact has been in the last two games?

LAUREN BETTS: Yeah, she's a sniper. She's one of those players that's always going to be a go-to for us offensively. She's super efficient, and we have so much trust and confidence in her.

She's very consistent for us. To go to your point, defensively, that's something she's been working on all season. Lately she's been really on top of her stuff, so I'm really proud of her.

I think a lot of our defensive -- what's the word I'm looking for?

CORI CLOSE: Deflections.

LAUREN BETTS: Deflections, all of that, it comes from her. I told her in our SC game, when we played them, all of that pressure that we had started with her. When she makes big plays, I think it's a really big deal for our team. So I'm really, really proud of her.

Q. Double-digit steals and a lot of blocks today. How important was that? Did it feel like you took your defensive game up another notch today?

KIKI RICE: Yeah, defense is something we pride ourselves on. We have a ton of people who can guard all around. Just creating havoc, disrupting people's possessions, and making sure that we're dictating, not them dictating us, is something that we take pride in and we've been focusing on, especially in the postseason. I thought we did a good job of that today.

Q. You slipped Dugalic in the game a little earlier than normal. I thought Ohio State took a while to recognize that. They got the lead and never really gave it up.

CORI CLOSE: That four-player matchup, if they were not going to go double big, that's something that would be a real advantage for us. We wanted to get to that sooner rather than later.

The other part is she does a really good job in press offense too. If they're going to trap the guards or make it difficult, we can always bring it back to that person as a trusted inbounder, and she's really good in those scenarios. That's why I want to her earlier.

I was really proud, one, with our team floundered in those mismatches. But, there were some awareness defensive plays. They hadn't been running that elevator in a long time. Ange recognized it and stopped the play by Chance Gray. I was impressed by those kinds of awareness plays by her.

Her ability to slide her feet defensively allows us to switch more, but also her ability to really be trusted with the basketball against a pressure team, that was a huge part of our game plan today.

Q. You said yesterday this time of year you really don't want survive and advance, you want thrive and advance. Which one was this?

CORI CLOSE: Closer to thrive, how about that? I think that there were some moments, I thought, a little bit in the second quarter and a little bit in the third that we sort of got sped up, but I thought our responses were really good, and we started out the right way.

It's not that really we went up 14-3, it was more so the energy that we were playing with. I want to piggy-back on something that Lauren said that I think is really important to us. I challenged our bench, I said, if nothing else, when you come in, you should have pride to get a passion play. For us, a passion play is seven nonstatistical categories that we believe lead to winning possessions.

All three -- Lena Bilic, Amanda Muse, and Sienna Betts -- all did that in the first half, which allowed me to rest the guards a little bit more in the first half because I knew they'd have to stay the course in the second.

What I think I'm most proud of our thriving is the way in which everybody made a contribution and chose to be an add to winning possessions.

Q. We talked about the balance of this team. How much is that going to help you the rest of the season, especially a tough NCAA Tournament game where it's kind of pick your poison, especially with some of the people you bring off the bench in addition to your starters?

CORI CLOSE: I think lots of coaches like to say you have six starters or we have seven starters. I think anybody, if you ask anyone else, another coach, they would say the same about us.

I think that, when you have such a deep team that can make high-level contributions, so double-digit points, rebounds, assists, they can impact the game in so many different ways, it just increases your margin for error. Not all of them are going to be on.

I was actually really proud. Right before I came up here, I pulled Gabs aside, and I thought she was really big down the stretch. What I liked about that the most is that she struggled a little bit in that middle of the second half. I just showed a lot of her mental toughness that, when we needed her the most, she was going to be there for us on the defensive end and on the rebounding end.

So I just think there's going to be all of these different moments. When you have as many people that are as skilled as we do, you may not know who it's going to be, but as long as no one cares about the who, I like the fact that it could be someone different every night because every game is going to force you to adjust.

We obviously want to play through the paint, and Ohio State makes you that you can't just move the ball comfortably to get the kind of paint touches that you want to make. We've got to adjust and do different things, but I think I have the players to adjust and sort of pick your poison, as you mentioned.