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Women’s basketball prepares for NCAA tournament over longest break of season

No. 10 UCLA women’s basketball coach Cori Close will have either 13 or 14 days off before her team takes the court again in the NCAA tournament following its loss in the Pac-12 championship game. Close and the Bruins will find out their NCAA tournament seed next Monday. (Ashley Kenney/Assistant Photo editor)

By Jon Christon

March 9, 2021 2:29 p.m.

After the Bruins’ loss in the Pac-12 championship game, Cori Close said her team had a lot to work on.

Luckily for the 10th-year coach, her players have the most time off between games as they have had all season.

No. 10 UCLA women’s basketball (16-5, 12-4 Pac-12) will have either 13 or 14 days off after its loss to No. 2 Stanford (25-2, 19-2) in the Pac-12 championship game Sunday. The Bruins will find out their seed and schedule for the NCAA tournament next Monday and will play their next game on either March 21 or March 22.

According to Close, if her team plays as they did Sunday in two weeks, it will see an early exit come March Madness.

“Stanford, quite frankly, put on a clinic of what it takes to be at a Final Four level, and we’re going to either allow that to teach us and call us up to that standard, or it’s going to be a quick out in the tournament,” Close said. “Next time we play with that lack of urgency in the first half of an NCAA tournament, I don’t care what round, it’ll be our last. So we better learn from this real quick.”

In the loss, UCLA’s 55-point performance was its second-lowest scoring outing all season, only bested by its 49 points in another loss to Stanford on Dec. 21. Aside from senior forward Michaela Onyenwere’s game-high 30 points on 12-of-26 shooting, the Bruins scored just 25 points on 7-of-31 shooting.

On the other end of the floor, UCLA had its worst defensive performance in a handful of categories. It gave up 75 points, 10 3-pointers and 27 field goals – all season-worst or tied for season-worst numbers – while allowing Stanford to shoot 47.6% from beyond the arc, also the highest for an opponent this season.

Close also cited rebounding as an area of concern, as the Bruins grabbed a season-low 27 rebounds compared to the Cardinal’s 38, good for the team’s second-worst rebounding margin on the season with a -11.

Through tears, Onyenwere said the team will have the opportunity to move forward and get better, even with the season-worst performance in a number of areas.

“Credit to Stanford – they were able to execute what they were needed to execute and we weren’t able to take away their strengths like we knew we could,” Onyenwere said. “So we are just moving forward from this game. … We’re going to find ways to get better and move onto the tournament and be better.”

The offensive struggles went beyond the tournament finale, however, as the other two games UCLA played in Las Vegas also ranked among the worst scoring performances of the season, with the 58 points against both Washington and Arizona ranking only below the two Stanford losses.

Among those held below their season scoring average was sophomore guard Charisma Osborne. Entering the tournament, Osborne was the conference’s fourth-leading scorer at 18.1 points per game.

In the three games in the Pac-12 tournament, the sophomore was limited to just 30 points total on 10-of-40 shooting – her worst three-game scoring stretch of the season and tied for her worst three-game efficiency stretch in her career.

Even with the extended time off, Close said fixing the offense will be difficult.

“This team has so many weapons, and that’s what’s so frustrating to me,” Close said. “The challenge for us is it’s really hard for us to work (on offense) in practice because of (COVID-19) protocols. … That’s going to be my challenge over the next 10 days is we got to figure that out – we’re better than that.”

In the days following their loss to the Cardinal on Dec. 21, the Bruins rattled off five-straight victories – including a win over Stanford on Jan. 22 – while winning eight of their next nine.

With potentially 14 days before the next time her team takes the court – matching the longest such stretch off of her career – Onyenwere said the time off will give her team an opportunity to prepare before hopefully going on another such winning streak.

“I think the time off will be good for us just to kind of give us a mental break for a little bit just to get things in order for the NCAA tournament,” Onyenwere said. “It’s good for the time being, but obviously, we want to be back on the court and playing as soon as possible.”

When asked if she thought her team could bounce back from the championship game loss, Onyenwere said she had no doubt.

“Yeah, 100%,” Onyenwere said. “That’s one thing about my team is when we’re knocked down, we’re not knocked down for too long. … We know that this just a bump in the road, but we still have so much basketball to play.”

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Jon Christon | Sports senior staff
Christon is currently a Sports senior staff writer. He was previously the Sports editor on the men's basketball and football beats and the assistant Sports editor on the women's basketball, softball, men's tennis and women's tennis beats. Christon was previously a contributor on the women's basketball and softball beats.
Christon is currently a Sports senior staff writer. He was previously the Sports editor on the men's basketball and football beats and the assistant Sports editor on the women's basketball, softball, men's tennis and women's tennis beats. Christon was previously a contributor on the women's basketball and softball beats.
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