No. 1 UCLA expects a raucous March Madness sendoff in the Bruins’ home finale against Richmond
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Pauley Pavilion is hallowed ground in college basketball lore, and the UCLA women have treated it that way.
The Bruins have lost only two games on this storied hardwood in the past two seasons, routing opponent after opponent with modern flair tempered by respect for the tradition embodied by the house that John Wooden built.
The current, top-seeded Bruins (31-2) are almost certainly the best women’s team in school history, and they’ll bid farewell to Pauley on Sunday night when they host eighth-seeded Richmond (28-6) in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
UCLA had a loud crowd for its opening-round victory over Southern, and coach Cori Close wants to see something even bigger for the Bruins’ home finale against the talented Spiders near the end of a history-packed season for women’s basketball in Los Angeles.
“Let’s sell this thing out,” Close said. “You’ve got (for) the first time in school history, a No. 1 seed, let alone an overall No. 1 seed. You’ve got a really good Richmond team that’s going to force us to go to another level if we want to earn another 1-0. Let’s sell out the Galen Center for (fellow No. 1 seed) USC and Pauley Pavilion for UCLA. We’re enjoying such a special time of a new level of women’s basketball throughout our city.”
That crowd should get an entertaining evening in Westwood, where the Bruins will attempt to book their third consecutive trip to the Sweet Sixteen and their seventh in the last nine tournaments under Close.
All-American center Lauren Betts’ team is talented, incredibly deep and usually dominant. But the Bruins aren’t overlooking Richmond and its Atlantic 10 player of the year, Maggie Doogan, who dropped 30 points and 15 rebounds in the Spiders’ opening-round victory over Georgia Tech.
“To see the abundance of fans come in to support us is amazing,” UCLA guard Gabriela Jaquez said Saturday. “I’m super thankful for everyone that comes out to watch. I was telling the team, last year when we played Creighton in the second round (of the NCAA Tournament), it was probably the loudest I’ve ever heard Pauley to that time. And I felt the energy with the fans (Friday). Everyone is so excited with March Madness.”
Richmond had its own raucous cheering section for the first NCAA Tournament victory in program history on Friday night. With that celebration still fresh in mind, the Spiders are embracing the chance to take a shot at a seemingly unbeatable opponent on its home floor.
“When you win 30 games and the only team that’s beaten you all season is a team that has JuJu Watkins on it, you’re pretty good,” Richmond coach Aaron Roussell said of the Bruins. “So a lot of things have been tried. Probably a lot of things haven’t worked. You try to find some teams that maybe are somewhat similar to how you’re doing, but you first go through their list of games, and there’s not a whole lot of close games, either. I don’t know what has worked.”
Test from the best
UCLA is daunting, but Richmond has showed its mettle against national powers already this season. During a seven-day stretch right before Christmas, the Spiders hosted Texas and faced Tennessee and Alabama in a tournament in West Palm Beach, Florida.
The Spiders lost all three games, but stayed competitive with both Texas and Alabama while building the confidence for their Atlantic 10 title run. Richmond reeled off 17 consecutive victories before a heartbreaking loss at the buzzer to St. Joseph’s in the conference tournament.
“There’s a certain — ‘comfort’ maybe not being the right word — but I think there’s an understanding that we’ve played against teams of this caliber before,” Roussell said. “We’ve been in this situation where this has all been new, and I didn’t want that. When we did the schedule this year, it was, ‘Hey, if we’re going to get to the tournament, hopefully win a game, it’s going to be a team like this.’”
Happy to see Happy
Betts has been a prominent athlete in Hollywood for two years now, but she was still starstruck to meet Adam Sandler on Friday. She’s also hoping the actor who made “Happy Gilmore” and the basketball-themed “Hustle” might return the love.
Betts and her family — including her 6-foot-4 sister, Sienna, who will play for UCLA next year — were brunching at The Terrace in Beverly Hills when they spotted Sandler at the restaurant. Everybody got together for a photo, and the family invited Sandler to the Bruins’ game Sunday.
“My family, we just love Adam Sandler,” Betts said with a grin. “He’s legit our favorite actor of all time. All his movies are our comfort movies. … We’re sitting there and I see him in the corner of my eye. Sienna is screaming. My dad, before we even get a chance to stand up, he’s already over there taking a picture with him.”
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By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer
