Becky Burke’s Arizona team heads to Los Angeles on Thursday to face No. 10 UCLA, an early road test that will show how far the Wildcats have come. The game is scheduled for Nov. 12, 2026, and both teams enter at 2-0.
For Arizona, this is the kind of matchup that can turn a strong start into something more convincing. Burke has a stronger roster this year, and the Bruins will be the first major measuring stick for that progress.
UCLA arrives ranked and unbeaten, but the record hides a major reset. The Bruins lost six of the 11 players who appeared in a game on last season’s 37-1 team, including Lauren Betts, Kiki Rice, Charlisse Leger-Walker, Gianna Kneepkens, Angela Dugalić and Gabriela Jaquez. Those six were last season’s top six scorers, six of the top seven rebounders, the top six players in assists and steals, and four of the team’s top blocked-shot producers. UCLA lost 75.7 of its 83.9 points per game, 32.9 of 42.4 rebounds per game, 281 of 318 steals, 763 of 834 assists and 140 of its 170 blocks.
Cori Close has replaced that production with KK Bransford from Notre Dame, Addy Brown from Iowa State and Donovyn Hunter from Oregon State and TCU, but the Bruins are still proving the answer on the floor. They opened 2-0 with wins over Lehigh and UC Irvine, and they have not left Pauley Pavilion yet this season.
That is what makes Thursday matter. UCLA went through last season’s regular season with only one loss, then rolled through the NCAA Tournament and beat South Carolina by 28 in the title game. Arizona is walking into that setting with a better roster and a cleaner read on its own ceiling, but the real answer will come against the Bruins’ new mix, not last year’s numbers. UCLA’s next trip away from home is Nov. 22 against Tennessee, and this game is the first chance to see whether Burke’s team can make Los Angeles feel less like a stage and more like a test it can pass.
