The Bruins have dug themselves into a hole.
How UCLA responds to being in that hole will determine the fate of its postseason.
After losing on the road last weekend to Washington, the last place team in the Pac-10, the UCLA women’s basketball team finds itself in a tough situation with this weekend’s series against No. 3 Stanford and No. 4 California.
Hoping to make the NCAA Tournament, UCLA will need to win the majority of the remaining Pac-10 games to improve its chances at earning a bid.
During Wednesday’s practice, coach Nikki Caldwell stressed how sticking to teamwork at this point in the season will help the Bruins climb out of this predicament.
“Helping each other out is like, “˜I’ve got your back and I am in the trenches with you,'” Caldwell said. “We have dug ourselves a hole in regards to how we have played and not competed.”
UCLA has not faced top-five teams back-to-back since the 1999-2000 season. As the Bay Area teams travel to Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins are first preparing for their game against Stanford tonight before focusing on California on Sunday.
Stanford enters the game tied with California for first place in the conference. Stanford is the defending Pac-10 champion. Despite the Pac-10 dominance, if any team is capable of upsetting the Cardinal, it is UCLA.
When Stanford came to play in Westwood last season, the Bruins captured a 69-56 upset victory over the then-No. 2 ranked Cardinal. When the teams met earlier this season, UCLA went into the locker room down by only two points but was outscored 43-28 by the Cardinal in the second half.
“Stanford is a team that not only in the Pac-10 you strive to compete with, but nationally,” Caldwell said. “We need to go out (today) and show that we are a much better team than we were against Stanford in the first go-around.”
Stanford is led by sophomore forward Kayla Pedersen and junior center Jayne Appel. Appel is averaging 15.2 points this season, but the Bruins were able to hold her to just six points back in the February meeting.
“With her, sometimes you may have to double-team and just try to play the best defense that you can,” UCLA sophomore guard Doreena Campbell said.
“Our objective is to have to make her shoot tough shots. If she can do tough shots instead of easy shots, that’s the best you can do with a player like that.”
Another player the Bruins will watch out for is senior forward Jillian Harmon. According to the UCLA coaching staff, Harmon is the “glue” to the Stanford team since she contributes in important ways that do not show up on the score sheet.
UCLA then faces California on Sunday at noon.
While both games are equally important for the Bruins to push for upsets, the team is taking it one game at a time.
“We are focusing on Stanford first but if we can even upset Stanford or get a close game, it’s the same with Cal because if we can’t get two wins then we need at least one,” Campbell said.
As the last home game of the season, pregame festivities will take place on Sunday to honor the seniors on both UCLA and California’s teams. Senior guard Tierra Henderson and senior center Chinyere Ibekwe will be honored for their contributions to the Bruins for the past four years.
“The seniors have been influential,” Campbell said. “(Tierra) has been influential defensive-wise. She gets our defense going, she’s gets us excited, and she helps disrupt other teams. (Chinyere) has been really big on boards and she has been a real presence inside.”