HONOLULU — The University of Hawai'i women's basketball team wraps up the non-conference portion of the 2023-24 schedule by taking on No. 2 UCLA on Thursday at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.
The Rainbow Wahine return to action coming off of a 17-day break following a 73-47 win over San Jose State on Dec. 3 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. The visit to UCLA will be UH's second road trip of the season and first since opening week when the 'Bows played at Stanford on Nov. 8 and at Santa Clara on Nov. 11.
| GAME 9: HAWAI'I RAINBOW WAHINE (3-5, 0-0 BIG WEST) AT NO. 2 UCLA BRUINS (10-0, 0-0 PAC-12) |
| Date | Time |
Thursday, Dec. 21 | 1 p.m. PT / 11 a.m. HT |
| Location |
Los Angeles, Calif. | Pauley Pavilion |
| Television |
None |
| Live Stream |
pac-12.com/live/ucla |
| Radio |
None |
| Live Stats |
statbroadcast.com |
| Game Notes |
Hawai'i | UCLA |
HEAD COACH LAURA BEEMANAt Hawai'i: 183-153 (12th season)
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORDUCLA leads 8-1
Last meeting: Dec. 4, 2016, Los Angeles, Calif. UCLA 72, Hawai'i 49
TIPOFF
• Thursday's matchup will be the 10th in UH's all-time series with UCLA. The Bruins lead the series 8-1 overall and are 6-0 against UH at home.
• The Rainbow Wahine and Bruins last met on Dec. 4, 2016, a 72-49 UCLA victory in Los Angeles. UCLA's wins against UH have been decided by an average margin of 29.1 points.
• UCLA entered the week at No. 2 in the AP Poll and No. 7 in the NCAA Women's Basketball NET Rankings. The Bruins picked up a 77-71 win at No. 13 Ohio State on Monday before heading back to Los Angeles for the game with UH.
• The Bruins will be the third Pac-12 team UH will face this season. The 'Bows opened the season with an 87-40 loss at Stanford and fell to Washington 58-41 on Nov. 26 in the finale of the Rainbow Wahine Showdown. No. 2 UCLA, No. 9 Stanford and No. 23 Washington entered the week with a combined record of 30-1. In all. UH's nine non-conference opponents have an aggregate record of 62-31 (.667).
• UH sophomore forward Imani Perez enters the week leading UH with nine points per game while shooting a team-high .531 from the field and is followed by guards Daejah Phillips and Lily Wahinekapu at 8.6 ppg.
• UH guard Lily Wahinekapu passed the 900-point mark for her career with a season-high 14 points against San Jose State. The junior point guard scored 427 points as a freshman at Cal State Fullerton and has 474 since transferring to UH last season for a total of 901. She's averaging 11.9 points per game in her UH career and 13.1 overall.
• Junior guard Daejah Phillips started the first two games this season and came off the bench in the last six, averaging 10.3 points per game since the switch. Phillips has scored in double figures in four of the last five games and is coming off a season-high 17 points against San Jose State. She is UH's active leader in points (847), field-goals made (264) and steals (109).
• UCLA ranks seventh in the country in scoring offense at 91.1 ppg and eighth in scoring margin at 29.6 ppg. They are also third in field-goal percentage (51.6%) and first in rebound margin (+21.5).
• UCLA center Lauren Betts leads NCAA Division I with a 76.8 field-goal percentage and tops the Bruins with 17 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.
DEFENSIVE MINDED
• The Rainbow Wahine rank among the stingiest teams in the Big West so far this season. They entered the week first in the conference in scoring defense in allowing 56.88 points per game.
• UH opponents are shooting 36% on field-goal attempts overall, the lowest mark in the Big West.
• UH has held opponents to 23.3% shooting on 3-point attempts, which ranks first in the conference and 17th among 348 Division I teams.
HOT FROM THE LINE
UH has taken advantage of its trips to the free-throw line over the last four games, shooting 87% over that span. UH entered the Rainbow Wahine Showdown shooting 61.9% from the line for the season. The 'Bows jumped to 71.7% by hitting 37 of 43 attempts over the three-day tournament and improved to 74.8% with a 22-for-25 performance against San Jose State.
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