NCAA tournament: UCLA confident it can beat Texas in Final Four
As Kendrick Lamar’s television blared outside the Mo Ostin Basketball Center, a crowd of cheering fans gave the UCLA women’s basketball team a fitting farewell Tuesday as it left Westwood for Phoenix.
The Bruins are back in the Final Four, where they will face Texas – the only team that has beaten them this season – and begin one last attempt to win what they hope will be their first national championship since 1978.
Last year, UCLA fell to Connecticut in the Final Four, a loss that made the Bruins even hungrier for a title.
“The experience is a very important lesson, for me as for [the team]” said UCLA coach Cori Close. “I just think there was a clear focus.”
Gabriela Jaquez, one of seven seniors on the roster, is proud of the Bruins’ growth since last season.
“We used it as fuel and used the information we learned to apply it this year,” she said.
Familiar with the spotlight of the Final Four, UCLA remains focused on itself and understands the importance of shutting out the noise coming from outside its circle, Jaquez said.
“I’m not trying to focus on the outside, we’re just going to step in in a really professional way and do what we need to do,” she added.
Close said the loss to Connecticut taught her she had to ask her players to attack differently. She plans to implement some of the lessons from that Texas game.
UCLA guard Charlisse Leger-Walker shoots past Minnesota guard Tori McKinney during the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament on March 27.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
One of Close’s biggest takeaways from last year’s Final Four berth? Limit distractions, she says.
“We love being able to involve our families, but we have to do it in a way that remains very tight,” Close said.
UCLA also learned some hard lessons from its 76-65 loss to Texas on November 26. But Close realizes that talking about it won’t help their cause.
” Let’s go to show what it taught us,” Close said.
Charlisse Leger-Walker feels ready to take on the Longhorns’ high-pressure defense, thanks to UCLA’s practice players.
She credits them with creating practices that replicate the type of defense Texas will play. They helped the Bruins understand their role on the court, take care of the ball and be more confident.
“I think a lot of it is about going out and being the aggressors first, trying not to react to situations, and we can do that by starting with our defense,” Leger-Walker said. “I think we’ve made a lot of progress since that game. Obviously, so have they, and it’s going to be a completely different game for both sides.”
That preparation will be crucial against Texas, Close said.
“Every little detail of this battle, the individual battles, determines who will win the war,” she said. “I think you have to have that level of fight and aggression, and we’ll see which one [team] it feels better.
A Final Four for the No. 1 seeds
With Connecticut and South Carolina completing the Final Four, there’s no “Cinderella story” left, only powers — and UCLA believes it’s one of them.
The Final Four matchups reflect the growth of the sport, Close said.
“I just think we feel like not only do we all want to win, but we all want to present our game the right way and we all want to see it continue to move forward in a powerful way,” Close said. “It’s an elite group, and I’m very lucky to be a part of it, but I’m also very confident that we’re a part of it and we’re excited to try to play our best basketball this weekend.”
