No. 5 UCLA ready for revenge vs. No. 1 South Carolina two years after tournament loss

After UCLA was eliminated by South Carolina during the 2023 Sweet 16, Bruins coach Cori Close sat at the podium for her postgame news conference. As the questions poured in, she recalls thinking just one thing over and over again.

“I have to grow in some areas,” Close said ahead of the No. 5 Bruins’ soldout game against No. 1 South Carolina on Sunday at Pauley Pavilion. “I have to be able to put this team in different and better situations, given what I’ve learned about them.”

Close has seen a lot in her 14 years leading the UCLA women’s basketball program, but the main thing she’s noticed that’s different about her team this season is its confidence. That kind of confidence is bound to happen when you have center Lauren Betts, the Big Ten’s second-leading scorer averaging 21.5 points while shooting 72% from the field. She’s also third in the conference in rebounding with 11.5 per game, with Bruins Janiah Barker (9.8 rpg) and Angela Dugalic (9.0 rpg) ranking sixth and eighth, respectively.

That success down low has opened the floor offensively for the Bruins (4-0), who are dishing out 22 assists per game — eighth most in the nation and second in the Big Ten.

“I’ve been double teamed and tripled teamed all my life, so it’s not something I’m not used to,” Betts said. “I think with this team especially, the amount of shooters we have. Obviously we have the addition of Timea Gardiner now, so just having her on the wing and knowing that I can always kick out to somebody and they’re going to be able to shoot, I think, just relieves all my pressure and makes my job 10 times easier.”

Read more: Lauren Betts has another double-double as UCLA women cruise to win over Arkansas

Close challenged her team during practice all week, demanding high-pressure defense to help prepare for the physicality of Sunday’s game.

Kiki Rice, the Bruins’ dynamic point guard who earned Associated Press All-American honorable mention last season, was injured to start the season and played her first game this past week against Arkansas with a minutes restriction. Close said she hoped Rice would be able to play South Carolina (5-0) without any limitations, but is confident in backup point guard Elina Aarnisalo’s ability to run the offense. Aarnisalo finished with 11 assists and one turnover during the win against Arkansas.

The Bruins (4-0) also will be counting on Gabriela Jaquez for a lift. Jaquez, who leads UCLA in minutes per game, spent the summer playing for the Mexican national team in bruising FIBA tournament games with the hope it would better prepare her to face tough teams like South Carolina.

Close said during the last two years, the Bruins have worked to develop better spacing, depth and versatility to keep pace with top teams.

South Carolina lacks a dominant center to match up with Betts, but the Gamecocks offset that by playing formidable team defense and rank 14th nationally with 6.2 blocks per game.

Junior forward Chloe Kitts leads the Gamecocks in scoring (14 ppg) and rebounding (9.8), but South Carolina’s biggest strength is its depth and coach Dawn Staley’s ability to consistently rotate 11 players into games without much dropoff.

The Gamecocks’ bench ranks 11th in scoring (38.2). Its reserves have outscored opposing bench players by 26 points per game.

Read more: UCLA women looking for a deeper NCAA tournament run this season

Sunday will be the sixth meeting between UCLA and South Carolina, with the Bruins’ only win coming in 1981. South Carolina has come to represent the gold standard in women’s basketball under Staley, who has led the Gamecocks to six Final Fours and three national championships since 2015. If there’s ever an opportunity to forge your team in the fire early in the season, it’s in this game.

Close has taken to calling this weekend in L.A. — which also featured No. 3 USC hosting No. 6 Notre Dame on Saturday — as “the Final Four in November” while trying to keep the importance of the game in perspective for her players.

“There’s no motivational speeches needed for a game like this,” she said. “And at the same time, this is not our season. This is a step in our season of growth and experience. I want us to play with incredible focus and competitiveness, but I want us to be completely process-oriented … [making the] right choices, being the most prepared team, getting tougher every day, having a growth mindset, no matter who we play.”

This weekend also features an aspect of college basketball that’s slowly disappearing, as noted this past week by UCLA men’s basketball coach Mick Cronin: a marquee nonconference matchup played at Pauley Pavilion in front of the Bruins’ home crowd.

Close acknowledges the shift toward high-profile games at neutral sites out of necessity. The neutral-site games generate a lot of revenue, helping shoulder the costs of name, image and likeness compensation, but schools worry about disappointing donors who want to see good games at homes.

Read more: UCLA guard Gabriela Jaquez learned to handle bruising hits while leading Mexican team

“What we’re trying to do is have a balance of both,” Close said. “We’re probably going to have more of them at neutral sites than home, but not only neutral sites. I want to have a game like this at home every year in nonconference.”

For Barker, a Texas A&M transfer, Sunday will be her first opportunity to experience a sold-out Pauley Pavilion crowd.

“When we’re lit, they’re going to feel it. They’re going to be shaking Pauley and turning Pauley up,” she said. “It’s going to be super fun to have that kind of environment. I’m new to UCLA, so I’m going to get to really see it in its full form. I’m super excited for that.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.