kiki rice

The WNBA will likely get an injection of UCLA talent. One of the players most equipped to make an impact right away, it turns out, might be Kiki Rice.

Some mock drafts have the senior guard as high as being picked No. 5 overall after concerns she might fall out of the first round entirely before this season.

After a career-best season, though, Rice is one of the top prospects in a loaded class. That wasn’t a given after taking a step back in all statistics other than shooting last season.

The No. 1 seed Bruins are hoping to ride that to a national title, with the next step coming Saturday against No. 16 seed California Baptist in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. at Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA guard Kiki Rice shoots over Ohio State guard Jaloni Cambridge during the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament on March 7 in Indianapolis.

(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)

WNBA scouts are hoping Rice proves she can be one of the best early first-round investments in the league.

“The work she did on her mentality, film study, with leadership, using her voice, working on her handles, I just think it’s her commitment to the details,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “I’m not surprised that she’s playing this way because of the intentional work that she puts in.”

A Big Ten All-Defensive Team and unanimous All-Big Ten First Team selection this season, Rice is averaging career highs in points (15.3), rebounds (6.0) and shooting percentage (50.4%). Her assist numbers have dropped since the addition of Charlisse Leger-Walker, but that’s allowed Rice to create her own offense.

“I think one of the things that Kiki’s been able to do is have different kinds of scoring catches this year because of Charlisse’s presence on our team,” Close said. “But I do think the biggest thing has probably been her passing, her facilitation, as well as her ability to shoot.”

WNBA scouts have taken notice, too. One evaluator said her ability to play with a “group of weapons” has set herself up to be taken seriously for a larger role even as a rookie. For a long time, among those scouting in the league, she was viewed as a potential backup point guard, but her shooting ability and defensive consistency has made her a more complete prospect.

Her 2.2 defensive win shares are third in the Big Ten and her 83.0 defensive rating is seventh.

“I worked a ton of [defense] in the offseason and really stepped up to the challenge of guarding the other team’s best perimeter player,” Rice said. “I think me being challenged in that way, it’s been a really great area of growth, and that’s probably the area that I’m most proud of.”

Rice’s improvement from the three-point line is a big one for WNBA scouts. She improved her deep shot from 21.7% to 38.1% across four seasons.

UCLA guard Kiki Rice steals the ball from Washington guard Chloe Briggs at Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 19.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

That, plus her defensive prowess and ability to play point guard and more of a loose guard role, have helped her WNBA stock rise tremendously.

“Defensively has been probably the most impactful growth thing that she’s had,” Close said. “But Kiki — people don’t realize she was out for six months. She had surgery on April 15th last year and was out for six months.”

Rice was injured at the start of last season and then underwent right shoulder surgery right after the Final Four. Despite the injury, she played in 34 games last season, averaging 12.8 points and 5.0 assists per game.

Rice won the Big Ten tournament’s most outstanding player award after UCLA thrashed Iowa by 51 points in the championship. She averaged 16.6 points and 5.3 assists during three Big Ten tournament games.

Her numbers might be even better if she were the team’s top offensive option, like Hannah Hidalgo with Notre Dame. Instead, she is sharing time with other top WNBA prospects such as Lauren Betts, Gianna Kneepkens and Leger-Walker.

“What I love most is she’s one of the most selfless people I’ve ever played with,” Betts said of Rice. “She really could [not] care less about all of the attention. She just wants to win games. She’s always there for her teammates. I’m so grateful I get to be her teammate and her friend. She’s amazing.”

In addition to her three-point shot improvement, around 60% of her points still come in the paint from driving to the basket, making her a threat all over the floor.

“There were lots of times in previous years where Kiki could get downhill, but we didn’t have the court spacing because we didn’t have the quality of shooting that allowed those driving lanes to take place,” Close said.

UCLA guard Kiki Rice shoots over USC guard Malia Samuels at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 3.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

The biggest question with Rice is whether her three-point shooting can scale to a higher volume in the WNBA, where guards are more likely to shoot from deep than be relied on in the post. She has never taken more than 2.7 attempts per game.

Part of that is because there are so many options from three-point range that Rice doesn’t have to be the primary shooter. Kneepkens is making 44.2% of her three-pointers and Gabriela Jaquez has hit 41.1% while Leger-Walker is shooting 36.4% from range.

That hasn’t affected Rice’s efficiency, though.

“I think this year the way that we moved the ball and everyone gets touches is so important for everyone and allows me to be successful,” Rice said.

UCLA guard Kiki Rice celebrates with teammates as she’s handed the Big Ten tournament most outstanding player trophy on March 8 in Indianapolis.

(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)

With the way the draft order falls, Rice is likely to end up with either an expansion team or a team that struggled last season, such as Washington or Chicago. That might mean she’ll need to step in and produce in her first season as a pro.

That is why her stock has risen so much this season — she’s shown she has the versatility to do what is needed.

“Kiki has been playing the best basketball of her career,” Close said. “I think she has put in the work. She knows what she’s earned, and she’s sort of ‘that girl’ for us.”

Above a muddled Southland college basketball landscape, a heartwarming, heartstopping story has arisen.

In a winter filled with the unhappy buzz of screaming coaches and quitting players, a beautiful noise has appeared.

It comes from the most dominant college basketball team in Westwood in three decades.

It is directed by the coaching curator of the memory of John Wooden.

It is led by the most impressive UCLA post player since then-Lew Alcindor.

If they were men, they would have been in the national headlines for the last six months. But from those shadows they have emerged stronger, more connected and loudly prepared to bring home a long-awaited national championship.

UCLA guard Kiki Rice drives under pressure from Iowa guard Chazadi Wright during the Big Ten tournament finals on Sunday in Indianapolis.

(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)

Listen up, that roar at your door is the UCLA women’s basketball team, bursting on to the national headlines Sunday after delivering the kind of Big Ten tournament title beating that sounds, well, fake.

They defeated ninth-ranked Iowa 96-45. They won the title game in arguably the country’s deepest conference by 51 points.

Fifty-one points. Fifty-one points! Who wins a game of such import by 51 points?

A team that should be the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, that’s who.

Seriously, when officials reveal the women’s March Madness bracket next weekend, even though one-loss UCLA is ranked second behind defending champion and unbeaten Connecticut, the Bruins should be the top-line No. 1 team.

They have won 25 straight games, all but two by double digits, against a much tougher schedule than the one faced by UConn.

Yes, the Bruins’ one loss is to Texas, but the Longhorns just won the SEC and are going to be another No. 1 seed. And yes, the Bruins lost to UConn by 34 points in last season’s national semifinals, but the Huskies lost Paige Bueckers and the Bruins just got deeper and better and more committed.

By earning the No. 1 overall seed, the Bruins would have a smoother ride to the finals, where a UConn rematch for the national championship seems destined.

The Bruins deserve it. The Bruins have earned it. Were you watching the carnage at Indianapolis’ Gainsbridge Fieldhouse Sunday? If so, you probably turned the channel after 15 minutes. Maybe sooner.

“What they’ve done this year has been extremely impressive,” said Iowa coach Jan Jensen after the throttling. “I think you saw a lot of senior leadership on their end, a team that’s been on a mission since the Final Four last year.”

UCLA center Lauren Betts shoots over Iowa guard Kylie Feuerbach during Big Ten tournament title game Sunday in Indianapolis.

(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)

On Sunday, it was a mission of mauling. The Hawkeyes took the lead with a quick three-pointer before the Bruins reeled off 13 straight points while holding Iowa to two total baskets in a first quarter that ended with the Bruins holding a 17-point lead.

For the next three quarters, the Bruins made the Hawkeyes look like a grade-school team, not a program that reached the national championship games twice in the last three years.

No, Caitlin Clark isn’t walking through that door. Not that she would have helped much. These Bruins overwhelmed the Hawkeyes by displaying every necessary strength required to take the final step and finish the job next month in Scottsdale.

“I just want to say thank you to the incredible players that really fulfilled their mission and stayed committed to the hard character qualities that we knew we needed to make this kind of run,” Close said.

It helps that they have six veterans who will be taken in the next WNBA draft. It also helps that Close will be steering them into her 10th tournament in 15 coaching seasons, she’s been here enough to know all the madness moves.

In search of the school’s second women’s basketball national title — and first in 48 years — they are doing everything right.

UCLA guard Kiki Rice celebrates with a trophy after receiving the Big Ten tournament most outstanding player honors.

(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)

They play near-perfect team basketball.

On Sunday they set a Big Ten tournament record with 34 assists on 40 baskets, the highlight being an over-the-head backward pass from Angela Dugalic to Kiki Rice in the fourth quarter.

“This group has the potential to do whatever it wants,” said Rice.

They are deeper than any team in the country.

They won by 51 points and their unquestionably best player, Lauren Betts, took all of nine shots. Lauren was even outscored by her little sister Sienna, who Lauren wildly cheered while standing in front of the bench.

The tournament most outstanding player was not Lauren Betts, but Rice, who wasn’t the leading scorer but had eight assists and three steals and didn’t crack a smile until she heard her teammates on the trophy stage chanting her name.

“She’s one of the most selfless people I’ve ever played with,” Lauren Betts said of Rice. “She really could [not] care less about all the attention. She just wants to win.”

In all, nine different players scored for UCLA, and when is the last time you’ve seen a scoresheet so full in a game of such magnitude?

Oh yeah, they can also shoot. All of them can shoot, as they made half of their 26 three-point attempts, led by Gianna Kneepkens’ four treys and team-high 19 points.

The Bruins could have used Kneepkens last season against UConn, but she was playing for Utah. She’s here now, and that could be the difference.

Compared to last spring’s surprise Final Four run, everything feels different. These Bruins know they belong on this big stage, know how to win here and calmly and precisely play as if they know they can pull this off.

During Sunday’s postgame celebration, the three Bruins who briefly, but famously, joined the UCLA dance team during a recent men’s game repeated the dance on the Indianapolis court. They’re feeling it. Their fans are feeling it. Soon an entire city could be feeling it.

“I’m joyful,” said Close, and the dance is just beginning.