LOS ANGELES - It’s been a whirlwind for the UCLA Bruins since they became NCAA champions after blowing out the South Carolina Gamecocks in Phoenix on April 5 and their victory tour has taken a variety of turns.
From appearances at games for both Los Angeles NBA teams to an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, capped off with all six of UCLA’s seniors hearing their names called at the 2026 WNBA Draft in a historic run, the Bruins have certainly been busy.
Sandwiched in between those NBA games and the WNBA Draft, though, was a pitstop for Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice in what has become a hallowed tradition for champions across sports, a shift at Raising Cane’s.
Kiki Rice and Lauren Betts FaceTime with Todd Graves, Raising Cane’s CEO, who’s apparently a big women’s basketball fan @SportingTrib pic.twitter.com/aVIY13eCGw
— Jack Haslett (@JackHaslett_13) April 9, 2026
From Kiké Hernandez and Will Smith of the Los Angeles Dodgers to Charlie May and Nimari Burnett of the 2026 NCAA champion Michigan Wolverines on the men’s basketball side of things, it seems like every champion needs to check in for a shift to serve up box combos for the 30-year-old chicken empire.
Checking in
Betts and Rice are no different and on April 9 they pulled up to Raising Cane’s in Hollywood to serve the people.
Jack Haslett
UCLA guard Kiki Rice during an interview at Raising Cane's in Hollywood, CA.
“It’s really special to feel the love from everybody.. I think the growth of women’s sports, especially in LA, and to feel all the support from everybody, it’s just special,” Betts said. “It’s been the craziest three days of our lives, so we’re really just trying to soak it all in.”
As a crowd of fans began to swarm outside, Rice and Betts answered questions from the media ranging from their experience on their victory tour to a look into Betts’ Dancing with the Stars aspirations.
Jack Haslett
UCLA fans gather outside of Raising Cane's in Hollywood, CA.
Their shift at Raising Cane’s wasn’t just a fun photo op. It was representative of the impact that UCLA women’s basketball has made on the community.
When the Bruins were received at Pauley Pavilion the day before, head coach Cori Close finished the ceremony with an anecdote about how she was told when she first took the job that it would be hard to make Los Angeles care about women’s basketball.
UCLA growing
15 years later, the Bruins came home as champions and their media tour in the following days has represented something so much bigger than just a championship. It was an embrace by the community and a fulfillment of Close’s mission.
Post-championship life moves fast pic.twitter.com/pIV5FnNKwe
— Jack Haslett (@JackHaslett_13) April 9, 2026
As Betts and Rice checked in, welcomed as celebrities and playing their part in a fun and now-storied champion tradition, they too proved that women’s basketball has a place in both the sports world and the vast cultural hotbed that is Los Angeles.
“It’s been really great to see the growth after all these years,” Rice said. “People are here and engaged and interested in our stories. It’s really cool to have opportunities like this one at Raising Cane’s at a time when women’s sports is growing.”