Lauren Betts' UCLA teammate Kiki Rice drops 1-word reaction following major academic honor

Alongside star center Lauren Betts, UCLA guard Kiki Rice helped to lead the Bruins to the Big Ten Tournament title last season. In addition, the Bruins were a No. 1 seed and reached the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.

The Bruins posted a graphic on Instagram on Monday announcing that Rice had achieved academic excellence.

"Kiki Rice is a @bigten 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙪𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙎𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙖𝙧, finishing the 2024-25 school year with a GPA of 3.7 or higher! 🤓📚 #GoBruins," the caption read.

Rice shared the post on her Instagram stories with the caption:

"Nerd 🤓🤓🤓."

KikiRice/IG

In April, Rice was awarded the Elite 90 award for the 2025 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship. The award is given to the student-athlete who shines at a national championship standard and gets the highest cumulative GPA.

To be eligible for the award, players must be sophomores and above and have played a particular sport for at least two seasons with their respective teams. The number of credits completed counts towards the final tally. Rice is a Communications major and an Education minor at UCLA.

Kiki Rice credited for UCLA's work ethic

Kiki Rice averaged 12.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists for the UCLA Bruins last season. She was outshone by her teammate Lauren Betts, who was named both the National and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year after averaging 20.2 ppg, 9.7 rpg and 2.7 apg.

During her news conference before the Bruins faced the UConn Huskies in the Final Four in April, the reigning Naismith Women's College Coach of the Year, Cori Close, credited Rice with creating the work ethic culture behind the Bruins' success last season.

“I think it’s the hardest-working team that I’ve ever been a part of, top to bottom. I have to kick them out all the time, of the gym. They want more. They’re incredibly hardworking,” Close said.

“And I have to give that credit to Kiki Rice, because she has set a cultural standard of work that is contagious and pervasive. She deserves so much credit in that.”

The Bruins retained a majority of their team from last season, including Betts and Rice while adding talented star Sienna Betts, the No. 2-ranked player in the country in the class of 2025 according to ESPN, to give them a boost heading into a pivotal season.