The second game of the Final Four in the 2025 NCAA Women's Tournament will pit the UConn Huskies against the top overall seed, the UCLA Bruins.
Geno Auriemma's squad is the party crasher of this Final Four, the only 2-seed in a sea of 1-seeds. While that's not typical territory for the Huskies, they're hardly being overlooked. After dominating its first three games of the NCAA Tournament, UConn easily took care of the Juju Watkins-less USC Trojans in the Elite Eight. They're favorites against the Bruins.
That feels disrespectful to Cori Close's team, which earned the top overall seed in the field with the best season in school history. The Bruins have faced little resistance in the NCAA Tournament, with the Elite Eight win over LSU proving to be the only single-digit margin in the team's run so far.
How to watch UConn vs. UCLA
- Date: Friday, April 4
- Time: 9:00pm ET
- Venue: Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL
- How to Watch (TV): ESPN/ESPN2
- Streaming: fubo TV
- UConn record: 35-3
- UCLA record: 34-2
UConn vs. UCLA odds, spread and total
Odds provided by FanDuel Sportsbook
Moneyline
- UConn -385
- UCLA +290
Spread
- UConn -7.5 (-106)
- UCLA +7.5 (-114)
Total
- 135.5 (over -106/under -114)
UConn injury report
- Morgan Cheli, G: Out (ankle)
UCLA injury report
- N/A
UConn and UCLA series history
- UConn all-time record vs. UCLA: 7-1
UConn vs. UCLA prediction
The best player left in the NCAA Tournament is the one with the most to gain with a strong weekend in Tampa. Paige Bueckers wants to be the latest and greatest to bring a title back to Storrs and has been playing like that during the postseason, dropping at least 25 points in three consecutive games.
While Bueckers can play defense - including one memorable block against USC - she can't get any taller before Friday's tipoff. Auriemma's team lacks the size to deter UCLA center Lauren Betts, who remains underrated in the greater scheme of the sport.
Betts has been dominant in the NCAA Tournament, even more than she had been throughout an exceptional year. She put up at least 30 points and 10 rebonuds in the Second Round and Sweet Sixteen, missing a combined four shots between the two games. In the Elite Eight, her relatively pedestrian 17 points and seven rebounds were propped up by six blocked shots.
These are teams with contrasting strengths. While UConn can't match UCLA's size, the Bruins can't keep up with the Huskies' lethality from the perimeter. Beside Bueckers, UConn can also lean on Azzi Fudd and freshman sensation Sarah Strong - the next big thing in Storrs - to get the offense firing on all cylinders. Even if the Bruins can slow down one of the trio, there's plenty of other places for UConn to look.
This has been the long-awaited breakthrough season UCLA's women's basketball program has been working towards, qualifying for its first Final Four under the NCAA umbrella. In a sport where a select few programs dominate - UConn (and to a more recent extent, South Carolina) being one of them - it's hard to both get through the door and take the door off the hinges the same season. This is where the run should end.
Prediction: UConn 76, UCLA 71