Alexander: A historic weekend for UCLA’s Jaquez siblings
LAS VEGAS — UCLA’s men’s basketball Bruins are back in Las Vegas for the second time in three weeks, hoping for a better ending after losing the Pac-12 tournament championship game in T-Mobile Arena. Meanwhile, the women’s basketball Bruins are also in the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16, this one in Greenville, S.C., against the defending champ and No. 1 overall seed South Carolina.
And Angela and Jaime Jaquez Sr. might be scrambling to see everything they need to see.
Their son Jaime Jr., the men’s Pac-12 Player of the Year, is here for Thursday’s appointment with Gonzaga. Their daughter, freshman Gabriela, is in South Carolina for her team’s attempt to topple a women’s basketball giant. So are mom and dad going to be trying to get from one to the other?
“I don’t have their flight itinerary, but I know they’re crazy,” Jaime said during his team’s media availability here Wednesday. “And they’re going to try to make both as best they can.
“My parents are very supportive. They’ve been that way since I was a kid. And I just really appreciate all the hard work that they’ve put in trying to make it and support all three of their kids in all their sports and all their games.”
Never before has a brother-sister duo reached the Sweet 16 for the same school. And just two days after the men reached the Sweet 16 by beating Northwestern in Sacramento, Jaime and his teammates were in the stands at Pauley Pavilion on Monday night to watch Gabriela’s team hold off Oklahoma, 82-73, in their own second-round game.
Gabriela, a 5-foot-11 freshman, averaged 6.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 17.4 minutes in 36 games for Cori Close’s women’s team, starting two games this season. She’s part of a dynamic freshman class, along with Kiki Rice, Londynn Jones, Christeen Iwuala and Lina Sontag, that should keep UCLA’s women in good stead in coming years.
Jaime Jr., a second-team All-American (17.5 points, 8.1 rebounds), is at the other end of the college athlete’s circle of life, since he and fellow seniors Tyger Campbell and David Singleton are among the rare players these days who see it through to the end. And as someone who has been through this before – playing in the Final Four as a sophomore (and there’s a score to settle with Gonzaga going back to Jalen Suggs’ game-winning shot from the logo in the national semifinal two years ago) and the Sweet 16 as a junior – Jaime’s calm under pressure might be indispensable Thursday night.
“Me and Tyger talk a lot after games about just trying to understand and realize the bigger picture and take ourselves out of our shoes and look at what we’ve really done as a group together,” Jaime said Wednesday when asked about how all that tournament experience manifests itself. “And we look back. And we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished so far. Obviously, we’re still here. We’re still playing. And we’ve got a lot more to do.
“But when we look back, we’re very proud of the effort and hard work that we put into building this program to what it is today.”
He has provided guidance and support to his younger sister and is visibly proud of the progress she’s made.
“She’s tough,” he said. “I think we play a very similar style of game. I was very happy I got to watch her in the second round. I was able to go. I know all the guys were there supporting the women’s team as well.
“I’m just very proud of the work she’s put in. It’s difficult as a freshman. But she’s taken her time there and she’s making the most of it. I’m just very happy and proud of her.”
Jaime was later asked what the best part of watching her journey has been.
“I think just being able to see firsthand her growth as a player but also as a woman as well,” he said. “This is just a big transition in everyone’s life when they go to college. I think she’s handling it great.
“Obviously they’re in the Sweet 16. But I think more than that she’s learning how to live by herself, on her own, and kind of finding her own way in life. I think that’s really cool as an older brother just to see my little sister grow up in front of my eyes.”
Funny thing, but when Close discussed Gabriela’s play following Monday night’s second-round victory over Oklahoma, she compared it to the beginning of Jaime’s own journey.
“Gabriela has been incredible for us all year long – always ready, always working hard,” Close said. “She played every position (Monday), two through five. She guarded multiple positions. She did all these things. And I remember watching Jaime Jr. his freshman year going, ‘Man, he just makes so many winning plays that don’t show up in stat sheets as a freshman,’ and now look at what he’s grown into.
“And then look at her. And I’ve watched Marcos, (their) younger brother, and the way he plays football and basketball. So it’s the same way. I want to bottle up what their family taught them.”
One of these college careers will end in the next two weeks. The other one’s just beginning. But this weekend, no matter the outcome, they make history.
jalexander@scng.com