NCAA Sweet Sixteen Preview: #4 Minnesota Gophers vs #1 UCLA Bruins

The Minnesota Golden Gophers will try and keep their NCAA Tournament run going against a familiar foe on Friday night in Sacramento, California. The #4 seeded Gophers will face off against the #1 seeded UCLA Bruins who they lost two back in January at Williams Arena. But much can change in over tow months of a basketball season and the Gophers appear up to the challenge to attempt to pull off the upset.

Minnesota and UCLA met on January 14th at The Barn with the Bruins picking up a 76-58 victory. One major caveat about that game s that the Gophers were missing Tori McKinney who did not play with concussion symptoms. As the rest of the Gopher schedule as shown, McKinney is critical to the Gopher lineup and can make a massive difference on both ends of the court. Will her presence alone be enough to get the Gophers over the hump? That’s not likely but her spot in the lineup helps the Gophers do a lot more little things which will all need to happen to pick up a massive upset and the biggest win in program history since 2004.

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UCLA as a tea is just so talented. First and foremost the Bruins have one of the best players in the nation in center Lauren Betts. The 6’7 center averages over 17 point per game and is also one of the best rebounders in the nation. Minnesota did a fairly good job at containing her in their matchup in January getting her in early foul trouble but she still ended with a 17 point 10 rebound double-double. Sophie Hart will be tasked with watching her for most of the game and she said in Thursday’s press conference that she looks forward to the challenge. “She’s a phenomenal player. I mean, great scorer, great offensive rebounder who can run the floor phenomenally as well. So I’ve got my hands full, definitely. But I think it’s more fun because you get to be a little bit more physical. ”

But the Bruins are much more than just Betts. Senior guard Kiki Rice had one of her best games of the season against the Gophers scoring 25 points…

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Publish date : 2026-03-27 17:25:00

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