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This evening, the UCLA women’s basketball team will face the host and #3 seed Maryland Terrapins in the second round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. The Bruins advanced to this round by defeating the Tennessee Lady Volunteers on Saturday. Meanwhile, Maryland advanced by beating 73-51 on Saturday.
As I pointed out in our game preview, the Terps have had a heck of a season. They’ve only lost four games to three teams and all three of those teams were Big Ten opponents.
The biggest question for Cori Close and the Bruins is: Can UCLA continue to win with the relatively short rotation that Close is using for the Bruins? UCLA’s starters all played more than 27 minutes on Saturday and four of the five starters played at least 33 minutes.
It’s one thing to ride the horses you came in on, but having the starters play that many minutes is likely to catch up to UCLA at some point.
Will it catch up to the Bruins tonight? Or will UCLA, which has played very well since the end of January, be able to continue their run in the tournament and advance to the Sweet 16?
This is your UCLA Bruins vs. Maryland Terrapins NCAA Second Round open thread.
Go Bruins!!