UCLA confident it can turn last year’s hard lessons into Final Four success

With Kendrick Lamar’s “tv off” blaring outside the Mo Ostin Basketball Center, a crowd of cheering fans gave the UCLA women’s basketball team a fitting sendoff Tuesday as they left Westwood for Phoenix.

The Bruins are back in the Final Four, where they’ll play Texas — the only team that has beaten them this season — and begin a final push 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 has made the Bruins hungrier for a title.

“Experience is such an important teacher, for me, as well as for [the team],” said UCLA coach Cori Close. “I just think there’s been a clarity of focus.”

Gabriela Jaquez, one of seven seniors on the roster, is proud of how much the Bruins have grown since last season.

“We’ve been using it as fuel and using that information that we learned to apply it for this year,” she said.

Familiar with the Final Four spotlight, UCLA remains focused inward and understands the importance of turning off the noise from outside their circle, Jaquez said.

“I’m not trying to focus on the outside, we’re just gonna come in really business-like and do what we need to do,” she added.

Close said the loss to Connecticut taught her that she needs to direct her players to attack differently. She plans to implement some of the lessons from that game against Texas.

One of Close’s biggest takeaways from last year’s Final Four berth? Limit distractions, she said.

“We love being able to have our families be a part of it, but we have to do it in a way that keeps our focus very narrow,” Close said.

UCLA also learned some hard lessons from its 76-65 loss to Texas on Nov. 26. But Close realizes talking about it won’t help their cause.

“Let’s show what it taught us,” Close said.

Charlisse Leger-Walker feels prepared to take on the Longhorns’ high-pressure defense, thanks to UCLA’s practice players.

She credits them with creating practices that replicates the type of defense that Texas will play with. They have 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 coming out and being the aggressors first, trying not to be reactive to situations, and we can do that starting with our defense,” Leger-Walker said. “I think we’ve made a lot of improvements since that game. Obviously, they have too, and it’s going to be a completely different game from both sides.”

That preparation will be critical against Texas, Close said.

“Every little detail in that battle, the individual battles, leads to who’s going to win the war,” she said. “I think you have to have that level of fight and aggression, and we’ll see which [team] does it better.”

A Final Four of No. 1 seeds

With Connecticut and South Carolina rounding out the Final Four, there is no “Cinderella story” remaining, only powerhouses — and UCLA believes it belongs among them.

The Final Four matchups reflect growth in the sport, Close said.

“I just think there’s a sense that not only do we all want to win, we all want to showcase 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 fortunate to be a part of it, but I’m also very confident that we belong and that we are excited to try to play our best basketball this weekend.”