UCLA females's basketball coach Cori Close and Sacramento State coach Mark Campbell have a bond that's been built through years of basketball and familial ties. When Campbell called in the middle of a video game plan conference on Wednesday, Close understood exactly what to say:

" Sorry, we're attempting to find out how to beat Sac State."

Saturday's 8:30 p.m. NCAA competition first-round game will be the 6th conference in between the 2 programs, however the history between the head coaches runs deep.

Close recruited Campbell's better half, Ashley, when she dipped into Oregon City High School and had a working relationship with his father-in-law, Brad Smith, when he coached at the exact same school.

Campbell ended up being knowledgeable about Close when he started dating Ashley, and they crossed courses much more often during his 7 seasons coaching at Oregon. Campbell's daughters even matured with a love for the Bruins' mascots, Joe and Josephine.

" Ever considering that I've remained in the ladies's video game, Cori has been a coach and a terrific buddy and just a remarkable individual," Campbell said.

There's shared regard between the coaches, however video game time might not be so rosy. No. 13 seed Sacramento State (25-7) is looking to take advantage of its first look in the NCAA tournament and fourth-seeded UCLA (25-9) is eager to be dancing again.

UCLA senior guard Cam Brown stated this seems like the very first real NCAA competition for numerous gamers on the group. The Bruins played in the WNIT last season and COVID-19 considerably impacted the 2021 NCAA tournament.

The Bruins also have a healthy starting lineup and bench this season, which is perhaps the biggest difference from last season.

" Being able to look on the bench and actually understand you have subs coming is a remarkable feeling," Brown said. "We've been able to play this entire season turning a good bulk of our entire group.

Redshirt sophomore Emily Bessoir missed last season due to a torn ACL and has returned to be an important starter and key cog. She is the third-leading scorer at 9.4 ppg and averages a team-best 5.8 rebounds per game.

" I'm just so grateful to be out there," she stated. "I didn't know I would feel in this manner 2 years ago about basketball. But now that I'm able to play, I'm simply happy for every opportunity that we get."

Senior Charisma Osborne leads the group in scoring (15.5 ppg) and has actually played the most minutes of any Pac-12 gamer with 1,089. Freshman Kiki Rice is 2nd on the group in both scoring (11.7 ppg) and assists (106 ).

Sacramento State is on a nine-game winning streak heading into Saturday's video game and is led by Kahlaijah Dean and Isnelle Natabou.

Dean is the Big Sky Conference Player of the Year and averaged 21.1 points in the conference competition. Natabou is averaging 15.8 ppg on 64.2% shooting. As a team, the Hornets are the fourth-best 3-point shooting group in the nation at 38.64%.

" We're here to win," Campbell said. We're 32 video games into the season.

The winner of Saturday night's video game will face the winner of the game in between fifth-seeded Oklahoma or No. 12 seed Portland on Monday at Pauley Pavilion. Although there's love and respect between Close and Campbell off the court, each desperately wishes to get to that second-round game.

" Make no error about it, it does not make me desire to beat him any less," Close said. "I don't care if I'm playing ping pong.

When: Saturday, 8:30 p.m.

Where: Pauley Pavilion