TAMPA, Fla. – The No. 1-seed UCLA women’s basketball team spent Thursday afternoon practicing at Amalie Arena, after media obligations in advance of the 2025 NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four. UCLA arrived in Tampa on Tuesday evening and will take on No. 2-seed UConn (35-3) this Friday evening. This will mark the Bruins’ first-ever appearance in the NCAA Final Four. Previously, UCLA’s program won the 1978 AIAW Championship (Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) and returned to the national tournament’s Final Four in 1979. The NCAA began to oversee the national women’s basketball tournament starting in 1981-82.
Thursday’s Press Conference in Tampa: Coach Close | UCLA’s Student-Athletes
UCLA fans will be able to attend a Final Four watch party, presented by La Victoria, on Friday inside Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial. The event in Pauley Pavilion begins at 6 p.m. (PT), and admission is free for all fans (tickets can be requested by clicking here). UCLA’s game will be shown on the Pauley Pavilion videoboard. Food, beer and wine will be available for purchase inside the arena. Please note, that Pauley Pavilion’s clear bag policy will be in effect.
Last weekend, the Bruins defeated Ole Miss and LSU in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds, respectively, to move into this week’s Final Four in Tampa, Fla. Timea Gardiner and Gabriela Jaquez combined to shoot 9-for-13 from 3-point range in the win over LSU last Sunday afternoon. Jaquez’s key 3-pointer with 90 seconds to play in regulation helped propel UCLA past LSU, 72-65.
This Friday evening’s game between UCLA and UConn is scheduled to begin at approximately 6:30 p.m. PT (9:30 p.m. PT). Fans can watch the game live on ESPN.
“This is not a surprise for us to be here,” said Cori Close, The Michael Price Family UCLA Women’s Head Basketball Coach. “We expected and believed that we would be in Tampa. That being said, we’re really grateful, but we are ready to compete. We’re excited about that opportunity. Obviously incredible respect for the other three teams that are in this tournament and excited to match up against those.”
Prior to a 90-minute-long workout in the arena, UCLA took part at Amalie Arena in a press conference and various sessions with members of the news media. Juniors Lauren Betts, Gabriela Jaquez and Kiki Rice, along with Coach Close, answered questions during the mid-day press conference.
“I think it’s the hardest working team that I’ve ever been a part of, top to bottom,” Close said. “I have to kick them out of the gym all the time, they want more. They’re incredibly hardworking, and I have to give that credit to Kiki Rice. She has set a cultural standard of work that is contagious and pervasive. She deserves so much credit in that. I think what else is uncommon of this group is so many players, I’ve never had a roster this star-studded. It’s uncommon to have this many stars willing to give up individual things for a more powerful, collective thing. Those would be probably the two most uncommon things about this team.”
UCLA will enter this Friday’s game with a 34-2 overall record, having won the Big Ten Conference Tournament in early March. The Bruins posted a 16-2 record in Big Ten play, finishing in second in the regular-season standings. UCLA has won its last seven games, heading into the upcoming Final Four showdown with UConn.
The Bruins’ game on Friday at Amalie Arena will be nationally televised on ESPN, with Ryan Ruocco and Rebecca Lobo on the call and Holly Rowe serving as the sideline reporter. Fans can also tune to UCLA’s digital radio broadcast at uclabruins.com/watch. The national radio broadcast from Westwood One (SiriusXM 84) will include broadcasters Ryan Radtke, Debbie Antonelli and Ros Gold-Onwude.
UCLA’s game on Friday will take place after the first semifinal between No. 1-seeds South Carolina and Texas. The winner of the Bruins’ showdown with UConn will advance to the championship match on Sunday, against either South Carolina or Texas. Sunday afternoon’s championship game will be nationally televised on ABC and ESPN (12 p.m. PT, 3 p.m. ET).
