TAMPA – Kiki Rice could climb before she could walk.
Her parents were Division I athletes at Yale (mom Andrea played tennis, dad John played basketball), so they knew athleticism when they saw it. They saw it in their daughter as an infant, when she would grab the sides of her crib and climb out. Repeatedly. But it was more than that. It also took commitment to get out of that crib over and over. It took smarts, too. Rice had to think it through — where to put her tiny feet, the best spots to grip, how to escape before her plans were thwarted by watchful parental eyes.
She operates the same way on the basketball court. Now a 5-foot-11 junior point guard at UCLA, Rice surveys every situation, seeing plays develop before they happen. She thinks before she acts. But like when she was a baby, Rice doesn’t suffer from paralysis by analysis. As soon as she knows what to do and how to do it, Rice makes it happen.
“She is extremely focused and dedicated to the things she is passionate about,” Andrea Rice said. “From a young age, she was really excited about sports, and combined with her natural athleticism, she put in the time and effort to get better.”
Rice now has UCLA in the Final Four, seeking its first title in the NCAA era of women’s athletics. Last season, the Bruins exited with a Sweet Sixteen loss to LSU. This season, they avenged that loss on the way to the Final Four. But the work started long before then.
“It started last spring after the season, and continued throughout the summer and fall,” Rice said. “Everything in preseason, just knowing that we individually all have gotten so much better (and) put in that work to be prepared for any moment that we face.”
For Rice, you can rewind even further. Long before she arrived at UCLA, or even before she was the No. 2 player in the 2022 recruiting class, Rice was intent on doing things the right way.
Kiki and her brother, Teo, who played basketball at Yale, were encouraged to try everything as kids. They played musical instruments and dabbled in theater, but nothing caught their interest like sports. Kiki also was a talented soccer player who was named the Washington, D.C., Gatorade Player of the Year twice in high school. Her college basketball recruitment began when she was in seventh grade and a few colleges wanted her to play both sports. But by then, basketball had become her priority.
“She has always been mature beyond her years,” Andrea said. “She has a pretty good perspective on her priorities and how to manage her life.”
As the No. 2 player in her recruiting class of 2022 – behind 6-foot-7 teammate Lauren Betts – Rice had her choice of college programs. UConn, Stanford, Arizona and Duke also were in the running. Because of Rice’s calm demeanor and the distance from her home, UCLA assistant Tony Newnan wasn’t sure how interested she actually was in the Bruins. But her father encouraged the UCLA staff to keep after her: “She really likes you guys. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”
For Rice, it wasn’t enough to be one of the country’s best players. It wasn’t even enough to contend for a national championship. She wanted to be different. “(Choosing UCLA) gave her the opportunity to meet her various interests, but it also gave her the opportunity to build something,” Andrea said. “She wanted to do something special, something that hadn’t been done.”
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Rice always has done things her own way. She attended the academically rigorous Sidwell Friends School, but before high school, her parents asked if she wanted to explore other options. It wasn’t exactly a basketball school, but that didn’t matter to Rice. She would continue playing AAU and USA basketball, and could help make Sidwell Friends into a basketball school. Rice had no way of knowing that Tamika Dudley would take over as coach and make the program a national powerhouse, but she trusted her instincts when those instincts told her to stay put.
“That was a gamble that she took on herself,” Andrea said. “But that is kind of who she is. She is going to bet on herself.”
Growing up, Rice learned that greatness doesn’t look just one way. D.C. is a grab bag of personalities and professions. She knew people in medicine and media, has a cousin who played in the NBA and an aunt who works as a diplomat. It helped Rice navigate the complex world of being an adolescent as well as an elite athlete. Lots of people wanted a piece of Kiki Rice. They wanted to interview her, train her and hitch themselves to her success. But Rice’s circle kept her humble.
“It helped give her some perspective,” Andrea said. “Like, ‘Wow, look at all these great things that are possible out there. I’m doing something pretty interesting, too, but I’m not extra special because of that.’”
With all the accolades and hype around Rice – she won both the Gatorade National Player of the Year Award and the Morgan Wooten National Player of the Year Award as a high school senior – it would have been easy for her to coast. But Rice isn’t wired that way. When WNBA coaches come to watch UCLA’s practices, they often comment on how hard the Bruins work and the consistency with which they approach each drill.
“That credit goes directly to Kiki,” coach Cori Close said. “It all starts with her work ethic. She has built a culture of work in our program that has been absolutely contagious.”
Rice is a perfectionist in every way. When UCLA traveled to Paris to play Louisville in the Aflac Oui Play event to start the season, Ash Samaniego, the team’s director of athletic performance, took Rice with him to buy a gift for his wife. They went to Louis Vuitton, where Samaniego planned to spend $600 on a purse. Rice picked one out, and without checking the tag, Samaniego went to the counter. He ended up spending $2,000. But it was the perfect bag. “She was right,” he said with a laugh. “My wife loved it.”
At the start of the season, UCLA issues black and white composition notebooks to every player. Rice treats hers as if it’s made of gold. During film sessions, she takes meticulous notes. Every day this season, she wrote the same thing at the top of a page: “We will play in the Final Four this season.”
That was a bold prediction considering the Bruins never had made the Final Four. Rice helped make that happen Sunday, dishing out eight assists in a 72-65 regional final win over LSU. Now Rice wants more.
She may be the most serious player on the team, but off the court, Rice knows how to lighten the mood. She’s smart enough to know when her teammates need a laugh and also humble enough to be the butt of the joke. “We laugh at Kiki,” 5-foot-4 junior guard Londynn Jones said. “Not with her – at her.”
When Rice is serious about something, though, her teammates pay attention. Before the Big Ten Conference Tournament, Rice, with an assist from 6-foot guard Gabriella Jaquez, coordinated a player’s only meeting. The Bruins lost to archrival USC twice in the regular season and knew they would meet the Trojans again; Rice wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page. “She really leads by example,” Jaquez said. “Her voice doesn’t always have to be the loudest in the room, but when she does talk, people listen.”
That meeting helped the Bruins refocus and win the conference tournament. They took that momentum into March Madness and have met the goal Rice wrote daily in her notebook. But there is more to do. Friday, Rice will lead UCLA against UConn in a national semifinal. She’s ready for the moment.
“We have to be willing to surrender to the results because we know how much we worked,” she said.
Rice has been working toward this since she first climbed out of that crib.
