In the early parts of the young season, the UCLA women’s basketball team has emphasized growing. A weekend in Florida fits perfectly with the game plan.
After a huge upset win over No. 10 Oklahoma on Sunday, the Bruins will travel to Florida this weekend to play in the Gulf Coast Showcase.
“It’s definitely a good win for us, gave us a lot of confidence,” said senior guard Thea Lemberger. “We’ll use the stuff we were able to get better at to continue to get better at for the next games coming up.”
UCLA (2-2) will play James Madison (4-0) on Friday. Games on Saturday and Sunday will be determined after the first day’s results.
With the three-games-in-three-days style of tournament play, fatigue may be a concern, especially with the heavy minutes the Bruins have played so far and the short bench coach Cori Close had used.
But sustained energy has been a major area of stress for UCLA in practice, and will continue to be as the Bruins take on the heavy workload.
“Our energy is so key and I think that’s what we’ve been trying to bring to practices now, more energy and sustaining throughout the whole three hours,” said sixth-year senior forward Atonye Nyingifa. “If we can sustain energy, focus, and elevate practice for three hours, then we know we can put together a 40-minute game.”
To have that energy for three straight days will require a mental focus that the Bruins have been trying hard to cultivate in practice.
“There’s no doubt that we were growing and changing last week in practice, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we played that way in the game,” Close said. “Preparation has got to be consistent, preparation needs to be a part of who we are as a basketball team.”
Four games into the season and the Bruins have seemed to have figured out exactly what team they are.
“We’re really good when we’re connected together; we have great chemistry.” Close said. “The only way this team will reach its potential is to be the most connected close team, so connected that you’re just willing to fight for each other.”
Team connectedness will be on full display on the trip to Florida. Close said that one of her recruiting promises is that learning would be in “3-D,” which means learning about the different places they visit and creating incredibly powerful “remember when” moments.
On the tentative itinerary: water sports, including something Close called a roller coaster in a boat, and a way to serve others on Thanksgiving.
“I guarantee you that we’re going to be investing in the people around us,” Close said. “We’re going to have a whole lot of fun, and we’re going to learn as much as we can.”