{"id":670087,"date":"2026-03-20T22:14:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T22:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/670087\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T22:14:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T22:14:19","slug":"how-kiki-rice-became-the-ucla-bruins-top-wnba-draft-prospect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/670087\/","title":{"rendered":"How Kiki Rice became the UCLA Bruins’ top WNBA draft prospect"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The WNBA will likely get an injection of UCLA<\/a> talent. One of the players most equipped to make an impact right away, it turns out, might be Kiki Rice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some mock drafts have the senior guard as high as being picked No. 5 overall after concerns she might fall out of the first round entirely before this season.<\/p>\n

After a career-best season, though, Rice is one of the top prospects in a loaded class. That wasn\u2019t a given after taking a step back in all statistics other than shooting last season.<\/p>\n

The No. 1 seed Bruins are hoping to ride that to a national title, with the next step coming Saturday against No. 16 seed California Baptist in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. at Pauley Pavilion. <\/p>\n

\"UCLA <\/p>\n

UCLA guard Kiki Rice shoots over Ohio State guard Jaloni Cambridge during the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament on March 7 in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

(Michael Conroy \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

WNBA scouts are hoping Rice proves she can be one of the best early first-round investments in the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe work she did on her mentality, film study, with leadership, using her voice, working on her handles, I just think it\u2019s her commitment to the details,\u201d UCLA coach Cori Close said. \u201cI\u2019m not surprised that she\u2019s playing this way because of the intentional work that she puts in.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Big Ten All-Defensive Team and unanimous All-Big Ten First Team selection this season, Rice is averaging career highs in points (15.3), rebounds (6.0) and shooting percentage (50.4%). Her assist numbers have dropped since the addition of Charlisse Leger-Walker, but that\u2019s allowed Rice to create her own offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of the things that Kiki\u2019s been able to do is have different kinds of scoring catches this year because of Charlisse\u2019s presence on our team,\u201d Close said. \u201cBut I do think the biggest thing has probably been her passing, her facilitation, as well as her ability to shoot.\u201d<\/p>\n

WNBA scouts have taken notice, too. One evaluator said her ability to play with a \u201cgroup of weapons\u201d has set herself up to be taken seriously for a larger role even as a rookie. For a long time, among those scouting in the league, she was viewed as a potential backup point guard, but her shooting ability and defensive consistency has made her a more complete prospect.<\/p>\n

Her 2.2 defensive win shares are third in the Big Ten and her 83.0 defensive rating is seventh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked a ton of [defense] in the offseason and really stepped up to the challenge of guarding the other team\u2019s best perimeter player,\u201d Rice said. \u201cI think me being challenged in that way, it\u2019s been a really great area of growth, and that\u2019s probably the area that I\u2019m most proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rice\u2019s improvement from the three-point line is a big one for WNBA scouts. She improved her deep shot from 21.7% to 38.1% across four seasons.<\/p>\n

\"UCLA <\/p>\n

UCLA guard Kiki Rice steals the ball from Washington guard Chloe Briggs at Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 19.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

That, plus her defensive prowess and ability to play point guard and more of a loose guard role, have helped her WNBA stock rise tremendously.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefensively has been probably the most impactful growth thing that she\u2019s had,\u201d Close said. \u201cBut Kiki \u2014 people don\u2019t realize she was out for six months. She had surgery on April 15th last year and was out for six months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rice was injured at the start of last season and then underwent right shoulder surgery right after the Final Four. Despite the injury, she played in 34 games last season, averaging 12.8 points and 5.0 assists per game.<\/p>\n

Rice won the Big Ten tournament\u2019s most outstanding player award after UCLA thrashed Iowa by 51 points in the championship. She averaged 16.6 points and 5.3 assists during three Big Ten tournament games.<\/p>\n

Her numbers might be even better if she were the team\u2019s top offensive option, like Hannah Hidalgo with Notre Dame. Instead, she is sharing time with other top WNBA prospects such as Lauren Betts, Gianna Kneepkens and Leger-Walker.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I love most is she\u2019s one of the most selfless people I\u2019ve ever played with,\u201d Betts said of Rice. \u201cShe really could [not] care less about all of the attention. She just wants to win games. She\u2019s always there for her teammates. I\u2019m so grateful I get to be her teammate and her friend. She\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to her three-point shot improvement, around 60% of her points still come in the paint from driving to the basket, making her a threat all over the floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were lots of times in previous years where Kiki could get downhill, but we didn\u2019t have the court spacing because we didn\u2019t have the quality of shooting that allowed those driving lanes to take place,\u201d Close said.<\/p>\n

\"UCLA <\/p>\n

UCLA guard Kiki Rice shoots over USC guard Malia Samuels at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 3.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

The biggest question with Rice is whether her three-point shooting can scale to a higher volume in the WNBA, where guards are more likely to shoot from deep than be relied on in the post. She has never taken more than 2.7 attempts per game.<\/p>\n

Part of that is because there are so many options from three-point range that Rice doesn\u2019t have to be the primary shooter. Kneepkens is making 44.2% of her three-pointers and Gabriela Jaquez has hit 41.1% while Leger-Walker is shooting 36.4% from range.<\/p>\n

That hasn\u2019t affected Rice\u2019s efficiency, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this year the way that we moved the ball and everyone gets touches is so important for everyone and allows me to be successful,\u201d Rice said.<\/p>\n

\"UCLA <\/p>\n

UCLA guard Kiki Rice celebrates with teammates as she\u2019s handed the Big Ten tournament most outstanding player trophy on March 8 in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

(Michael Conroy \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

With the way the draft order falls, Rice is likely to end up with either an expansion team or a team that struggled last season, such as Washington or Chicago. That might mean she\u2019ll need to step in and produce in her first season as a pro.<\/p>\n

That is why her stock has risen so much this season \u2014 she\u2019s shown she has the versatility to do what is needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cKiki has been playing the best basketball of her career,\u201d Close said. \u201cI think she has put in the work. She knows what she\u2019s earned, and she\u2019s sort of \u2018that girl\u2019 for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The WNBA will likely get an injection of UCLA talent. One of the players most equipped to make…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":670088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[49],"tags":[33254,282923,282924,27226,1910,93430,29246,471,449,11280,5950,62,3007,282922,67,132,68,14164,232,1628],"class_list":["post-670087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ability","tag-assist-number","tag-charlisse-leger-walker","tag-close","tag-game","tag-kiki-rice","tag-last-season","tag-no","tag-point","tag-rice","tag-season","tag-sports","tag-team","tag-top-wnba-draft-prospect","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-way","tag-wnba","tag-year"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116263811108606097","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}