{"id":700122,"date":"2026-04-05T19:54:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T19:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/700122\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T19:54:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T19:54:30","slug":"jaime-jaquez-watch-ucla-vs-south-carolina-in-national-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/700122\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaime Jaquez watch UCLA vs South Carolina in national title"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PHOENIX \u2013 Drop 32 points on the Washington Wizards, hop an American Airlines flight to see your sister compete in the NCAA championship game.<\/p>\n<p>It had been an exhilarating 24 hours for Jaime Jaquez Jr. by the time the former UCLA star walked into the Mortgage Matchup Center on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>Wearing sunglasses and a UCLA letterman\u2019s sweater in a nod to his college days, Jaquez came to cheer on Gabriela against South Carolina in the end of an incredible seven-year run of Bruins basketball for the family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope she really cements the Jaquez legacy here at UCLA with a national championship,\u201d Jaime told the California Post while standing in a concourse before the game. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be amazing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.33333333;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38998915\" width=\"787\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_6127.HEIC_.jpg\" alt=\"Jaime Jaquez in a crowded hall at a basketball game.\" class=\"wp-image-38998915\"  \/>Miami Heat star Jaime Jaquez, a former Bruin, is  in attendance to watch his sister Gabriela and the UCLA Bruins face South Carolina in the national title game on Sunday afternoon. (Photo by Ben Bolch)<\/p>\n<p>The Miami Heat forward was coming off one of his best games of the season. He scored 32 points while making 12 of 18 shots, adding four assists and three rebounds during the Heat\u2019s 152-136 victory over the Wizards in Miami.<\/p>\n<p>With a break in the team\u2019s schedule, Jaime received his team\u2019s blessing to go see his sister\u2019s final college game. Having packed his bags before the game on Saturday, he left directly for the airport and secured a nonstop flight into Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCoach Spo [Erik Spoelstra] and the team, they understood how big of a moment this was,\u201d Jaime said. \u201cThey told me go on ahead and support your family. It\u2019s one of those things you can\u2019t miss.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.66699219;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38998924\" width=\"394\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2269730671.jpg\" alt=\"Gabriela Jaquez of the UCLA Bruins dribbles the basketball.\" class=\"wp-image-38998924\"  \/>Gabriela Jaquez of the UCLA Bruins dribbles against the Texas Longhorns during the second quarter in the Final Four of the NCAA Women\u2019s Basketball Tournament at Mortgage Matchup Center on April 03, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Sarah Stier\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Jaime is about to finish his second NBA season after four years at UCLA, where he became a beloved Bruin. He helped UCLA reach the 2021 Final Four and was selected the Pac-12 Conference\u2019s Player of the Year as a senior \u2013 when he overlapped with Gabriela on campus \u2013 before becoming a first-round draft pick of the Heat.<\/p>\n<p>Watching sister Gabriela blossom from a freshman who came off the bench to a projected first-round WNBA draft pick has been particularly gratifying.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been great,\u201d Jaime said. \u201cShe\u2019s grown so much from a freshman to senior year, and this is all her hard work paying off. It\u2019s for this moment right here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2013 Drop 32 points on the Washington Wizards, hop an American Airlines flight to see your sister&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3778],"tags":[7,160,144,295,189,3881,6,4252,66,4262],"class_list":{"0":"post-700122","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-heat","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-heat","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-heat","13":"tag-miamiheat","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-south-carolina-gamecocks","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-ucla-bruins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116353858781308527","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700122","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=700122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}