Michigan
UCLA
Michigan to Complete West Coast Swing at No. 1 UCLA
12/30/2024 4:57:00 PM | Women's Basketball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 24-ranked University of Michigan women's basketball team (10-3, 1-1 Big Ten) completes its two-game swing to the West Coast on Wednesday (Jan. 1), facing No. 1-ranked UCLA (13-0, 2-0 Big Ten) at Pauley Pavilion. The game is set for 2 p.m. PT and can be seen live on the Big Ten Network.
Notes
• Michigan is completing a three-game road swing, taking on No. 1-ranked UCLA at Pauley Pavilion as Big Ten play resumes. These three games mark the first true road contests of the season for the Wolverines.
• U-M is facing the No. 1-ranked team for the second time this season after going toe-to-toe with defending national champion South Carolina to begin the season (Nov. 4). U-M is the first team this season to face multiple No. 1-ranked teams. Before this year, U-M had only once faced a No. 1-ranked team, falling to top-ranked Iowa, 89-54, on Feb. 7, 1988.
• The Wolverines are facing UCLA for the first time as Big Ten opponents and for the first time since completing a home-and-home series with the Bruins in 2016. U-M and UCLA faced off against each other for three straight seasons last decade, playing each other in the 2015 WNIT, 2015-16 regular season and 2016-17 regular season. UCLA leads the all-time series, 4-0.
• Michigan is in the midst of facing three straight top-10 conference opponents: No. 4 USC, No. 1 UCLA and No. 10 Ohio State.
• The Wolverines are looking for their first ranked win of the season after facing then-No. 1 South Carolina, then-No. 10 Oklahoma and No. 4 USC. U-M has never beaten the No. 1-ranked team in program history but does have a pair of top-five wins, both coming during the 2021-22 season.
• Michigan came in at No. 24 in this week's Associated Press poll, marking the fifth straight week in the poll for the Wolverines. It is the 88th time under head coach Kim Barnes Arico that U-M has been ranked by the AP. KBA accounts for 87 percent of Michigan's 101 total appearances in the poll.
• U-M ranks seventh in the Big Ten in scoring defense at 57.7 points per game and first in three-point field goal percentage defense (.232) - good for seventh nationally.
• The Wolverines have a week off before hosting No. 10 Ohio State at Crisler Center on Jan. 8. It will be Michigan's first home contest since Dec. 14.
