Jaquez didn’t earn a reaction from Jaime Jaquez Jr. until she grabbed a steal and scored on the other end with a step-back fadeaway shot off one leg. At the urging of his teammates, the UCLA men’s basketball star shyly clapped for his younger sister as a wide smile split his face.
Gabriela’s critical fourth-quarter play will help keep the Jaquez family cheering all weekend as she and Jaime are the first brother-sister duo to reach the Sweet 16 in their respective tournaments during the same year. Jaime leads the No. 2-seeded UCLA men’s team against No. 3 Gonzaga on Thursday in Las Vegas, and Gabriela and the women’s team will try to upset No. 1 overall seed South Carolina in Greenville, S.C., on Saturday.
While Gabriela, a freshman, is playing in her first NCAA tournament, each game could be her brother’s last in a UCLA uniform. The senior forward is wrapping up an illustrious college career during which he grew from a tenacious bench spark plug to Pac-12 player of the year.
When Jaime arrived as a freshman, UCLA women’s basketball coach Cori Close immediately noticed the way he scrapped for rebounds and hustled for extra possessions. It didn’t always show up on the stat sheet, but good things always seemed to happen with him on the court. She was sure he would grow into a star at UCLA.
“And,” Close said, “I think [Gabriela’s] just going to be the same way.”
A 5-foot-11 forward, Gabriela averages 6.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in 17.4 minutes per game for the No. 4 seed Bruins (27-9). On a team with one of the deepest benches in the tournament, Gabriela stands out for the same intangible qualities that define her brother’s game. She hustles, she deflects passes, she sets screens.
“She’s tough,” Jaime said, noting their similar playing styles. “It’s difficult as a freshman. But she’s taken her time there and she’s making the most of it.”
It’s no coincidence the siblings play with a striking resemblance. The three Jaquez children, including youngest brother Marcos, who is a senior at Camarillo High and starred on the football and basketball teams, all learned the game from their parents, Jaime Sr. and Angela, who met as college basketball players at Concordia in Irvine. Jaime Sr. coached his kids to value defense and rebounding.
That’s also the first line in Close’s coaching handbook.
“I want to bottle up what their family taught them,” Close said after Gabriela scored seven points with five rebounds and three steals during UCLA’s second-round win against Oklahoma.
Against the Sooners, the Jaquez family’s only McDonald’s All-American played four positions, from shooting guard to center.
(Nell Redmond / Associated Press)
“She’s tough. It’s difficult as a freshman. But she’s taken her time there and she’s making the most of it.”
— Brother Jaime Jaquez Jr.
With five freshmen, UCLA is one of the youngest teams in the tournament but also one of the deepest with a 10-player rotation. Gabriela, who notched 34.2 points, 15.7 rebounds and 4.7 steals as a senior for Camarillo, had no idea where she would fit when she started summer workouts. She didn’t care.
“The most important thing for me when I’m on a team is that we win,” she said.
Gabriela’s movement without the ball makes her a perfect cutter in Close’s system. Her toughness is a given. Where the freshman will grow the most during her career, Close anticipates, is her ball handling, passing and ability to create shots off the bounce.
Once those skills come, “the sky’s the limit for Gabs,” Close said.
Undersized as a forward but still perfecting her guard skills, Gabriela’s in-between status initially stunted her recruiting. UCLA was her dream school, but she didn’t get an official offer until July 2021. It was the summer before her senior year. The delay in interest is still a joke between Close and Gabriela, who has finally forgiven her coach for taking so long.
“Better late than never is right,” Close said, “and boy, I’m glad we have her.”
Jaime Jr. is happy too. If they have free time, the fashionable siblings will go shopping or play chess. They watched a UCLA football game together last fall and Jaime cooked chicken fettuccine alfredo. It’s his favorite meal and possibly the only thing he can cook, Gabriela said with a laugh in November.
For their parents, the season has been a whirlwind of airports and hotels as they hope to attend as many games as possible. Jaime Sr. keeps the travel itinerary organized on an Excel spreadsheet. As of Wednesday afternoon, Gabriela expected her parents to start the highly anticipated Sweet 16 week by attending her brother’s game in Las Vegas. Her aunt will rally family friends for UCLA support in Greenville, S.C.
With their matching postseason runs, Gabriela has been a popular request for interviews lately. But the fact that the Jaquezes are quickly becoming the first family of UCLA athletics, following other siblings like Dave and Ann Meyers and Jrue, Aaron and Lauren Holiday, hasn’t quite hit Gabriela yet. The opportunity is unique, she reiterated, and it’s such a thrill for her family that UCLA fans can celebrate both programs this way, but playing and starring alongside her brother is simply what they’ve always done, she said.
Just call it the Jaquez way.