{"id":691022,"date":"2026-04-01T01:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T01:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/691022\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T01:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T01:58:16","slug":"ncaa-tournament-ucla-confident-it-can-beat-texas-in-final-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/691022\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA tournament: UCLA confident it can beat Texas in Final Four"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With Kendrick Lamar\u2019s \u201ctv off\u201d blaring outside the Mo Ostin Basketball Center, a crowd of cheering fans gave the UCLA women\u2019s basketball team<\/a> a fitting sendoff Tuesday as they left Westwood for Phoenix.<\/p>\n

The Bruins are back in the Final Four<\/a>, where they\u2019ll play Texas \u2014 the only team that has beaten them this season \u2014 and begin a final push to win what they hope will be their first national championship since 1978.<\/p>\n

Last year, UCLA fell to Connecticut in the Final Four, a loss that has made the Bruins hungrier for a title.<\/p>\n

\u201cExperience is such an important teacher, for me, as well as for [the team],\u201d said UCLA coach Cori Close<\/a>. \u201cI just think there\u2019s been a clarity of focus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gabriela Jaquez, one of seven seniors on the roster, is proud of how much the Bruins have grown since last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been using it as fuel and using that information that we learned to apply it for this year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not trying to focus on the outside, we\u2019re just gonna come in really business-like and do what we need to do,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"UCLA <\/p>\n

UCLA guard Charlisse Leger-Walker shoots in front of Minnesota guard Tori McKinney during the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament on March 27.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

One of Close\u2019s biggest takeaways from last year\u2019s Final Four berth? Limit distractions, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d Close said.<\/p>\n

UCLA also learned some hard lessons from its 76-65 loss to Texas<\/a> on Nov. 26. But Close realizes talking about it won\u2019t help their cause.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s show what it taught us,\u201d Close said.<\/p>\n

Charlisse Leger-Walker<\/a> feels prepared to take on the Longhorns\u2019 high-pressure defense, thanks to UCLA\u2019s practice players.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d Leger-Walker said. \u201cI think we\u2019ve made a lot of improvements since that game. Obviously, they have too, and it\u2019s going to be a completely different game from both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

That preparation will be critical against Texas, Close said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery little detail in that battle, the individual battles, leads to who\u2019s going to win the war,\u201d she said. \u201cI think you have to have that level of fight and aggression, and we\u2019ll see which [team] does it better.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Final Four of No. 1 seeds<\/p>\n

With Connecticut and South Carolina rounding out the Final Four, there is no \u201cCinderella story\u201d remaining, only powerhouses \u2014 and UCLA believes it belongs among them.<\/p>\n

The Final Four matchups reflect growth in the sport, Close said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think there\u2019s 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,\u201d Close said. \u201cIt\u2019s an elite group, and I\u2019m very fortunate to be a part of it, but I\u2019m also very confident that we belong and that we are excited to try to play our best basketball this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With Kendrick Lamar\u2019s \u201ctv off\u201d blaring outside the Mo Ostin Basketball Center, a crowd of cheering fans gave…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,14371,5748,82930,6665,217,2340,818,5250,68655,142,87221,87220,2954,646,231,772,1544,2098,5747],"class_list":["post-691022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-basketball-team","tag-bruins","tag-charlisse-leger-walker","tag-close","tag-college-basketball","tag-connecticut","tag-final-four","tag-focus","tag-gabriela-jaquez","tag-game","tag-hard-lesson","tag-high-pressure-defense","tag-last-year","tag-loss","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaab","tag-texas","tag-ucla"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116326978157485927","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}