Bruins adds another guard: Notre Dame's KK Bransford commits to UCLA

The defending national champion UCLA Bruins made another move in the transfer portal on Tuesday. On3 Sports’ Talia Goodman reported that Notre Dame guard KK Bransford has committed to UCLA, becoming the latest guard to flock to Westwood in the portal.

UCLA came into this offseason with an apparent need at guard and Cori Close has done a good job on addressing the need in the portal. The Bruins have already added North Carolina’s Elina Aarnisalo, TCU’s Donovyn Hunter and Bonnie Deas from Oklahoma.

The 5’11” Bransford heads to UCLA already having plenty of experience under her belt, having played 90 career games with the Fighting Irish. For her career, Bransford has put up 7.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. Bransford shot 47% from the field last season but was only at 27.3% deep.

This past season was Bransford’s return after missing the entire 2024-2025 season due to a foot injury. It wasn’t a perfectly healthy return either. Bransford played in 24 games but missed 12 games with a knee injury.

UCLA will take whatever they can get out of Bransford. The Bruins have some depth in the backcourt, with Bransford becoming the fourth guard UCLA has snagged in the portal. Plus Close will have Christina Karamouzi returning for a sophomore season along with incoming freshman Somto Okafor.

Even though the Bruins won’t have a handful of WNBA draft picks manning the guard positions this coming season, UCLA still has given themselves a solid group to work with.