The Bruins won against Duke in an outstanding fashion 89-59 in Las Vegas on Thursday night.
After the now No. 3 UCLA (7-1) came off their first and only loss of the season against the No.4 Texas Longhorns (6-0) after almost making a comeback from a 20 point deficit, UCLA blew out Duke, having a lead as large as 33 points in the fourth period.
Their offensive issues that they faced against the Longhorns did not carry over into the game against Duke, despite missing star center Lauren Betts due to an elbow injury last Wednesday. Betts is the second leading scorer this season for the Bruins, which put the Bruins in a disadvantaged position coming into the game.
UCLA’s lineup came out dominant, with all of their starters having recorded double-digit scoring games, including point guard Gabriela Jaquez, who recorded 23 points, the most of any player in the game. Additional standout performances came from point guards Charlisse Leger-Walker and Kiki Rice, who scored 20 and 17 points respectively.
The Bruins additionally dominated in practically every offensive metric, especially in the first half, outmatching Duke in field goal percentage, three-point percentage, free throw-percentage and assists. Although the Blue Devils began to play better offense in the second-half, scoring 34 to UCLA’s 46, it was not enough to overcome the insurmountable 18-point deficit that UCLA created for them by halftime.
UCLA was able to capitalize on Duke’s second-worst shooting performance of the season, with only a 33.8% field goal percentage as compared to UCLA’s 52.5%.
Carrying the momentum from this game’s win, the Bruins turn their attention to their 1 p.m. matchup against the University of Tennessee on Sunday at Pauley Pavilion.
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Featured Image Photographed by Regan Rhodes/BruinLife.
