Prior to her arrival, the program had only made three such appearances. Following four consecutive victories from 2016 to 2019 (including a trip to the Final Eight in 2018), Close has her team back in the Sweet 16 this season after an 82-73 triumph over Oklahoma in which Charisma Osborne scored a career-high 36 points.
The team that is now preventing the No. 4-seeded Bruins from making a second appearance in the Final Eight under Close? Powerhouse South Carolina, the No. 1 seed and unbeaten team, is led by coach Dawn Staley and starlet Aliyah Boston. The Gamecocks had a 63-point advantage in their first two NCAA Tournament victories.
The two teams' contest on Saturday is not their first this season. On Nov. 29, South Carolina defeated the Bruins at home by a narrow margin of nine points. Yet Close and her team have reason to believe they can defeat the defending national champions given that UCLA led in the fourth quarter and South Carolina only had a two-point advantage with 3:38 remaining in the game.
After the duel in November, Close reportedly told Staley that she had a message for her in the handshake line: "We will meet again." Close doesn't want her team to wilt under the pressure now that Staley's predictions have come true and there is a chance for a historic upset.
She was quoted in another L.A. Times piece as saying, "I don't want them to play tight." "Let them play freely, please. I want them to play with great gratitude and delight while being focused. Close's happiness is ultimately derived from her faith in Christ, not from her accomplishments as a basketball coach. Not even if the Bruins managed to defeat a No. 1 seed to advance to the Final Eight.
In the midst of a conversation on basketball and spirituality on the Sports Spectrum Podcast in October 2020, Close recalled on a "Proverbs Challenge" she undertook during the COVID pandemic lockdown.
"Read the proverb, please. One verse needs to be prayed, one must be written, and one must be shared. You only get one a day," she said of the task. That has provided some clarity in a very confusing period. She also lists 10 things for which she is grateful each day in an effort to keep in mind the numerous instances in which God has given her kindness throughout her life.
She said on the show, "I actually think my true Christ-following path started my freshman year of college." "I attended UC-Santa Barbara, where I played basketball, and in all honesty, basketball was my god there. When I started, I believe I was about nine weeks in. Everything was going well. I then swung around and tore my Achilles tendon. I was helpless when it suddenly detonated.
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A message that said, "Sometimes when you're a real doer, God lets you reach to the end of your rope when your only choice is to let go and let Him catch you" was given to Close during the pain and bewilderment of the injury's aftermath, according to Close.
"I believe that was the first time I ever let go and prayed, 'God, I can't do this. I require You. I said, "OK, I want to follow You and discover what it means to abide in You—to have a relationship, to be submissive," and He sort of let me crawl into His lap. That's when a more dependent connection started, in my opinion.
