Women’s basketball prepares for last home matchups of season at Pauley Pavilion

The Bruins are set to host their last two games at Pauley Pavilion this season.

UCLA women’s basketball (11-10, 6-6 Pac-12) will head back to Westwood for its last weekend homestand of the campaign, playing Colorado (16-7, 5-7) and Utah (15-8, 6-5) on Friday and Sunday, respectively. The Bruins are coming off three straight away games – dropping two of three – and have four more regular-season games to prepare for the Pac-12 tournament beginning Mar. 2.

The Buffaloes defeated the blue and gold by eight points in the teams’ first matchup of the year in January but currently sit at ninth place in the conference. The Utes, on the other hand, are ranked above the Bruins at fifth place in the Pac-12, although they have yet to meet each other this season after their first matchup was postponed.

UCLA enters the weekend riding a streak of five losses in seven games, most recently falling to Oregon on the road by 14 points Wednesday.

Coach Cori Close said the recent losses are a result of a lack of effort and toughness from her team, which is something it had to fix quickly.

“You got to choose either the pain of discipline or the pain of regret, and right now, we keep choosing the pain of regret,” Close said. “At this point in the year, I can’t run them through these really difficult things and focus on toughness, they’ve got to do it with their heart and their mind, and that’s what we always said, ‘The tougher, more together team wins.’”

Coming off a 63-46 loss to No. 2 Stanford, Colorado ranks first in the conference in scoring defense by limiting its opponents to an average of 56.7 points per game. The Buffaloes’ leading forward Mya Hollingshed averages 14.1 points per game.

The Utes rank first in the conference in scoring offense and 3-point percentage with an average of 79.2 points on 36.7% shooting from beyond the arc.

Junior guard Charisma Osborne said UCLA will have to figure out how to sharpen its consistency and play at a high level for all 40 minutes of the game.

“We need to look into ourselves and see how we can be more consistent throughout four quarters so that when we do play these really good teams coming up, we’re ready, and we can get the win,” Osborne said.

Redshirt freshman guard Dominique Onu – who recorded a career-best 16 points in UCLA’s most recent game – said the team will be focusing on improving day to day as a whole, regardless of the outcome of games.

“We’re just focused on getting better every day,” Onu said. “We’re not worried about our record or who we play. We’re trying to figure out how we can be better as a team.”

The Bruins will tip off against the Buffaloes at 7 p.m. on Friday and the Utes at noon on Sunday.