INDIANAPOLIS — Timea Gardiner buried a corner three-pointer inside a high school gym here Thursday afternoon, commencing an almost daily tradition for the UCLA women’s basketball team.
Clap-clap-clap, clap-clap-clap.
Coach Cori Close’s gesture signaled it was the end of practice, players quickly following her lead.
Clap-clap-clap, clap-clap-clap.
Everyone gathered in a circle, feet touching in a show of unity. Anyone who wanted to say something about the practice could speak. Gardiner said she felt the team was locked in. Other coaches and players shared equally positive messages.
It was a familiar routine in unfamiliar territory, the Bruins joining rival USC among the newcomers in their first Big Ten women’s basketball tournament.
After dominating their new conference counterparts during the regular season, the top-seeded Trojans and second-seeded Bruins are widely expected to meet again in the tournament championship Sunday afternoon at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Should the anticipated title matchup materialize, the Bruins can avoid going uh-oh-and-3 against the Trojans after dropping the first two games, including an 80-67 setback Sunday at Pauley Pavilion.
“The silver lining,” Close said of the latest defeat, “is that there has been an unbelievable response from our player leadership.”
Close said point guard Kiki Rice and forward Gabriela Jaquez convened a players-only film session Monday morning that was universally described as difficult but necessary. Breakdowns were acknowledged. Grievances were aired.
“It’s just unacceptable,” Jaquez said Thursday of the way the team played as she said on the bleachers inside the Arsenal Technical High gym, “and what I appreciate most about this team is it’s going to do whatever it takes and we’re not satisfied and we did not feel good by any means after that, so it’s like, how can we change?
USC center Clarice Akunwafo, center, shoots over UCLA guard Gabriela Jaquez, left, during the Trojans’ win on March 1.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
“That’s why I respect all the girls, and we took accountability with each other. We’re the ones on the court, and we need to be better.”
To reach the game everyone in Los Angeles — and much of the rest of the country — wants to see, the Trojans and Bruins must avoid the sort of stumbling blocks they have nimbly sidestepped all season.
In conference games not involving each other, USC and UCLA are a combined 31-1 (those confounding Iowa Hawkeyes!). Fortunately for the second-ranked Trojans, their path to the championship game does not include Iowa, which is on the other side of the bracket from the team it defeated by seven points last month in Iowa City.
After notching its first conference regular-season championship in 31 years, USC (26-2 overall, 17-1 Big Ten) will open the tournament at 9 a.m. PST Friday against ninth-seeded Indiana in a quarterfinal. Fourth-ranked UCLA (27-2, 16-2) will play either Illinois or Nebraska later in the day.
To emphasize the point that nothing is guaranteed this time of year, Trojans coach Lindsay Gottlieb told her players that even their opening game in the conference tournament could be as difficult as a second-round game in the NCAA tournament. Five Big Ten teams are nationally ranked, and 13 are projected by ESPN to make the NCAA tournament.
“In this league, if you’re an eight, nine seed — shoot, if you’re a 10, 11 seed in our conference — you’re probably an eight, nine seed in the NCAA tournament,” Gottlieb said. “So we look at each game as, this is a one-and-done situation and these are really good teams that can beat anyone on any given night.”
History suggests that the Trojans and Bruins will get their third meeting.
In Big Ten play, USC outscored its conference opponents by an average of 16 points per game. UCLA was nearly as dominant, outscoring its opponents by an average of nearly 14 points.
The stakes this week go well beyond staging a third rivalry game. While USC is seeking a second consecutive conference tournament title after winning the final Pac-12 tournament a year ago, UCLA has not won a conference tournament since 2006.
There’s also the need to jockey for NCAA tournament positioning. Should the Trojans or the Bruins prevail in the Big Ten tournament — particularly by knocking off the other team in the championship — they would have a strong claim to the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament.
Of greater importance would be ensuring a top seeding in one of the Spokane regionals that feeds into the Final Four in Tampa, Fla.
Then again, Close said she wanted her team to think about what it needed to do to win rather than what winning would mean.
“I think we felt the pressure of what was at stake in that last home game, and I didn’t think we played our competitive best,” Close said. “I think we need to focus on our process, I think we need to focus on our preparation, and then we need to surrender the outcomes and just give everything to each other.
“I’m trying to stay away from all of that because I think they all know, everyone has big dreams and big goals on this team, but I think focusing on what’s at stake — eh — I don’t know if it helps us get to where we want to go.”
As far as this week goes, there’s no doubt about the intended destination. It involves a renewal of the crosstown rivalry, halfway across the country.