The 2026–27 UCLA Bruins women's basketball team will represent the University of California, Los Angeles during the 2026–27 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Bruins will be led by sixteenth-year head coach Cori Close, and will play their home games at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, California as a member of the Big Ten Conference.
Previous season
The Bruins finished the 2025–26 season 37–1 overall and undefeated in Big Ten play, to finish first in the conference and capture their first outright regular season title since joining the Big Ten. In the Big Ten tournament as the top seed, they earned a double-bye to the quarterfinals, routing No. 8 Washington before defeating No. 5 Ohio State in the semifinals. UCLA then went on to win the Big Ten title and earn the conference's at-large bid to the NCAA tournament after defeating No. 2 Iowa 96–45, setting a new Big Ten record for largest margin of victory (51 points) in the championship game.
In the NCAA tournament, UCLA was seeded No. 1 in the Sacramento #2 Regional, as well as second overall in the field of 68. In the first and second rounds, they easily defeated No. 16 California Baptist and No. 8 Oklahoma State. They then advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, where they took down No. 4 Minnesota, moving on to defeat No. 3 Duke to win the regional title.
The Bruins went back to the Final Four, where they got their redemption and defeated Fort Worth #3 top seed Texas, in a rematch of their November game where the Longhorns won 76–65 to hand UCLA their only loss of the season. Finally, UCLA were able to capture their first ever NCAA title, as well as the first since their 1978 AIAW title, by defeating South Carolina 79–51 in the 2026 NCAA Division I women's basketball championship game. All of the Bruins' points in the Final Four and the national championship were scored by the team's six seniors.
The following month, UCLA would make history in the 2026 WNBA draft with five players being selected in the first round, the most since UConn achieved the feat in 2016.
Offseason Departures UCLA Departures Kiki Rice 1 Guard 5'11' Senior Bethesda, MD Graduated, selected 6th overall by the Toronto Tempo in the 2026 WNBA draft Charlisse Leger-Walker 5 Guard 5'10" Graduate Student Waikato, New Zealand Graduated, selected 18th overall by the Connecticut Sun in the 2026 WNBA draft Gianna Kneepkens 8 Guard 5'10" Senior Duluth, MN Graduated, selected 15th overall by the Connecticut Sun in the 2026 WNBA draft Gabriela Jaquez 11 Forward 6'0" Senior Camarillo, CA Graduated, selected 5th overall by the Chicago Sky in the 2026 WNBA draft Angela Dugalić 32 Forward 6'4" Graduate Student Des Plaines, IL Graduated, selected 9th overall by the Washington Mystics in the 2026 WNBA draft Megan Grant 43 Guard/Forward 5'10" Senior San Mateo, CA UCLA softball walk-on; graduated, selected 4th overall by the Portland Cascade in the 2026 AUSL draft Lauren Betts 51 Center 6'7" Senior Centennial, CO Graduated, selected 4th overall by the Washington Mystics in the 2026 WNBA draft
Additions UCLA incoming transfers Donovyn Hunter 4 Guard 6'0" Senior Medford, OR TCU Elina Aarnisalo 7 Guard 5'10" Junior Helsinki, Finland North Carolina KK Bransford 14 Guard 5'11" Graduate Student Cincinnati, OH Notre Dame Bonnie Deas 22 Guard 5'9" Sophomore Frankston, Australia Arkansas Addy Brown 24 Forward 6'2" Senior Derby, KS Iowa State
Recruiting class There was no 2026 recruiting class.
2027 recruiting class
Roster Years are listed according to the new NCAA age-based eligibility model.
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=""|Exhibition
!colspan=12 style=""|Regular season
Rankings
References