With the women’s basketball team sitting at sixth place in the Pac-10 with four regular-season conference games to go, every game will be crucial if the Bruins are to have a shot at the NCAA Tournament.
Tonight, UCLA (13-13, 7-7 Pac-10) will face off against Arizona (9-18, 3-12 Pac-10) in a matchup that is a must-win for the Bruins.
“This game will determine what way our season is going,” sophomore center Chinyere Ibekwe said. “We came into practice (yesterday) and we stressed how important it is that we look at this game like the first game of the season. We’ve been through so much and so many challenges so this game is basically going to be our opener. This game is very, very important.”
Though the Wildcats sit in ninth place in the conference, the Bruins know any conference matchup is going to be a battle. UCLA stifled a late Arizona comeback in the desert last month to come out with a 76-73 win.
“We shouldn’t underestimate them,” Ibekwe said. “They’re a good team. We only beat them by three. … We’re at home (this time). We’re in a good situation and we got to take advantage of it.”
Coming off their fifth straight loss to USC on Sunday, the Bruins will look to take the court tonight with a different attitude.
“Yeah, we’re pretty pissed,” Ibekwe said. “Losing against your rival is not fun for many reasons but we still tend to stay positive. … It doesn’t matter if we win by one or 50, we gotta win.”
In their first matchup, Ibekwe played well for nine minutes, racking up six rebounds and four points but also was tagged for four fouls, cutting her playing time.
“The biggest thing is to take pride in my post defense,” Ibekwe said. “That’s something I’ve worked very hard on. (I need to) limit my player to one shot. I know that when I bring the intensity, our defense gets better.”
At Tucson last time, it was one referee who called all four fouls on Ibekwe, who hopes the crew of officials will be different tonight.
“One of the refs said, “˜I don’t like the way you play. You play too aggressive.’ But that’s my style of play,” she said. “I stay aggressive. She gets on me all the time.”
However, UCLA will need more than just consistent play from its post players tonight if it is to turn away Arizona’s bid for an upset.
“Arizona has people that can shoot from the outside,” UCLA coach Kathy Olivier said. “I thought we did a good job of staying on balance (in our first matchup), not taking a lot of chances and making them earn their shots.
“You can’t take a break on their outside players because they can shoot. And you definitely can’t take a break on their inside players because they can go high-low and beat you inside.”
With the Bruins viewing their final regular season games as a four-game tournament they need to win, they do not have the luxury of looking ahead to their tough matchup against Arizona State on Sunday.
“Arizona’s a team that never stops,” Olivier said. “They’re actually a good basketball team. Their record doesn’t indicate that, but we have to be prepared.”