PHOENIX — The UCLA coaching staff showed its players video clips of Michael Jordan’s flu game on Friday before its NCAA Tournament semifinal matchup against Texas.
The archival, iconic footage of Jordan scoring 38 points while dealing with illness in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals was intended to inspire willpower in a Bruins team that had run shakily out of the starting gate in its last two tournament games.
“No matter what the circumstances, no matter how you’re feeling, no matter how tired you get, you can push a little bit more,” UCLA guard Charlisse Leger-Walker said. “Just when you think you can’t go, you’re probably only at 50% of what you can.”
UCLA channeled that pregame message to overcome a season-high 23 turnovers, beat Texas 51-44 at Mortgage Matchup Center on Friday night and advance to the NCAA Tournament championship game for the first time in program history.
“It definitely was not a pretty game,” UCLA head coach Cori Close said. “I wanted to apologize to all the fans for the rugby match and the 23 turnovers. We had to keep resetting, keep coming back to the right mental state of mind to what the next right step was.”
The Bruins avenged their only loss of the season and redeemed themselves from last season’s Final Four loss. They will square off with fellow top seed South Carolina in the national championship game on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. The Gamecocks defeated unbeaten defending champ UConn, 62-48, in Friday’s first semifinal.
All-American center Lauren Betts had 16 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots, including a pivotal one with 20 seconds left, to lead UCLA (36-1). Kiki Rice added 11 points while Gianna Kneepkens and Gabriela Jaquez each added 10 points as the Bruins extended their win streak to 30 games.
Kyla Oldacre led top-seeded Texas with 11 points off the bench while grabbing seven rebounds. All-American Madison Booker was held to six points and shot just 3 for 23 from the field, including 0 for 4 from 3-point range.
“(We) did an incredible job pressing up, making those shots difficult,” Kneepkens said. “She can hit those. I think we kind of pushed her out a little bit farther and made those very difficult for her. So, just proud of my teammates.”
UCLA’s high-scoring offense (84.9 points per game) was met with a Longhorns defense that had held opponents to 55.9 ppg this season, and none of its first four opponents had scored more than 58 points against them in the NCAA Tournament.
That trend continued, and UCLA’s 51 points were its lowest output in any game this season. The 37 combined points by both teams in the first half set a new record for fewest points in an NCAA women’s national semifinal game.
The Bruins had talked all week about being the aggressors early, and they came out with a furious level of play that appeared to shock the Longhorns. Their six first-quarter points set a new Final Four record for fewest points scored in an opening quarter.
“It was just one of those grind-it-out games,” Leger-Walker said. “When you get to this level, every team is so good. You have such great schemes. Defense is gonna win championships, and both of our mindsets were to come out and disrupt and get in passing lanes.”
Gianna Kneepkens banked a mid-range jumper and a 3-pointer to get UCLA off to a 7-2 start. Charlisse Leger-Walker hit Angela Dugalić with a no-look pass for a 3-pointer at the 3-minute mark to keep the offense flowing and extend the Bruins’ lead to 12-4.
Texas shot 3 for 14 from the floor and 0 for 2 from behind the arc in the opening quarter. The Longhorns struggled against UCLA’s screens and weren’t able to catch up until the final minutes of the first half.
Texas coach Vic Schaeffer shed his blazer as the second quarter got underway and Rori Harmon started the scoring with a jump shot, but it was Aaliyah Crump’s 3-point shot from the top of the key that cut UCLA’s lead to three points.
The Bruins were unable to score for the final 3:35 of the second quarter and had committed 12 turnovers, which left assistant coach Tasha Brown shouting “we gotta be tough” before heading to the halftime locker room with a 20-17 lead.
The locker room was player-led, as usual.
“We all come in, drink our water, take a second to ourselves, then we start communicating,” Jaquez said. “We all take our turns. I think that’s what makes our team so special, is that everyone can lead in their own way.”
Shooting percentages rapidly decreased after the intermission, and each team scored just 11 points in the third quarter. UCLA’s shooting percentage from the floor dipped to 35.1% after hitting 46.2% in the opening frame, and Texas was shooting at a clip of 27.1%.
The Longhorns again came within striking distance of the lead when Justice Carlton made a put-back jumper and was fouled by Lauren Betts for a three-point play opportunity. Rori Harmon, who averages 6.3 assists per game, sent a pass to Carlton for a layup to cut the UCLA lead to 29-28 with 48 seconds left in the third.
“All the credit to (Texas),” Close said. “They were constantly aggressive, they were relentless. I think they always believed they’d make a run. We have a lot of respect for who they are. They’ve earned that in the landscape.
“But I did think we were really connected, and we really believed in our anchor. We just kept asking ourselves: What is our next right step?”
The Bruins regrouped and closed the game with the aggressive style of play that they had shown early. A 10-2 run over 3:30 spanning the third and fourth quarters nearly buried the Longhorns.
Betts made two free throws and, 40 seconds later, kicked the ball out to Kiki Rice for a 3-pointer that extended the UCLA lead to 36-28. Leger-Walker – always quick on the trigger – fired a pass to Gabriela Jaquez for a layup and a 10-point lead with 8:37 remaining.
UCLA led by as much as 13 midway through the fourth, but Texas had one last gasp in the final four minutes. The Longhorns put together a 12-2 run to cut the margin to 47-44. Betts subdued the momentum with a block on Booker’s attempted layup with 20 seconds left, and Rice hit two free throws, sending Coach Cori Close’s crew into the title game.
“My job today was to help in any way I can inside the paint,” Betts said. “That’s my job consistently throughout the season. As soon as I saw her getting downhill, I’m like, ‘all right, please block this, just don’t let her score.’”
It was the Bruins’ third rematch of the NCAA Tournament after previously playing Minnesota and Duke in the third and fourth rounds. Texas had beaten UCLA, 76-65, on Nov. 26 in the Players Era Women’s Championship in Las Vegas.
The rematch was more like a wrestling match, players hitting the floor and coaches screaming for fouls that weren’t called – just like in the South Carolina-UConn game.
Betts was held to a season-low eight points the first go-round against Texas, but she had some success early in the rematch by attacking before the double-teams arrived. She finished 7 for 10 from the field and was a factor defensively all night.
“I’m just really proud of the growth and the way that we’ve held such a high standard consistently this year,” Betts said. “Coach Cori has done a really good job throughout the season, holding us to a high standard every day and not letting up on that. The way we’ve competed every single day in practice has gotten us to where we want to be today.”
UCLA is making its 21st appearance in the NCAA Tournament and second consecutive appearance in the Final Four. Texas has now been in the tournament 38 times and in the Final Four five times.
The two top-seeded teams were also champions of their respective conferences, with UCLA winning the Big Ten title and Texas winning the SEC title this season.