Note: A Spanish version of this story can be read here.
LOS ANGELES — Gabriela Jaquez‘s biggest fan entered Pauley Pavilion on a Saturday afternoon with a couple of his buddies. He wore ripped jeans and a flannel shirt, and plopped down in the front row as fans whispered to one another about him. But his focus was solely on the freshman forward on the floor for UCLA.
When Gabriela hit a 3-pointer late in the third quarter, Jaime Jaquez Jr. — the UCLA men’s basketball star and her older brother — stood up, pumped his fist and high-fived his friends. But the Jaquez family’s only former McDonald’s All-American, and its most competitive member, didn’t seem to notice her brother’s reaction or that of her family sitting in the stands, and jumped back on defense.
Basketball highlights are the norm for the Jaquez family. Hours earlier, Jaime Jr. had scored in double figures, on the same court, also in front of his family.
The Bruins won, but Gabriela scored just the three points. After the game, she moved into the multitude of siblings, nieces, nephews, parents, aunts and uncles who awaited her in a corridor of Pauley Pavilion. Surrounded by her family, she embraced her father and put her head on his shoulder in comfort.
“We’re both competitive,” Jaime Jr. said to ESPN of his sister’s reaction to what she considered a disappointing performance, despite also picking up nine rebounds.
Gabriela added, “We’ll learn from it. A lot of us are rushing and want to make the extra pass, especially for me. It’s an adjustment from high school. In high school, I could do whatever I wanted. We’ll get there.”
The game capped a hectic weekend — three high school or college basketball events in 24 hours — for the family, who wear “Team Jaquez” shirts to games. But it’s a familiar grind. More than a dozen relatives travel back and forth between Pauley Pavilion and their hometown of Camarillo, California, 45 miles northwest of Westwood, in support of the talented siblings — including younger brother Marcos, a basketball player and budding football prospect at Camarillo High School.
College basketball history is filled with siblings who played the sport at an elite level. But Jaime Jr., Gabriela and Marcos represent the third generation of basketball players in their family. In a sport with limited Mexican representation — Juan Toscano-Anderson (Marquette), Jorge Gutierrez (Cal), Horacio Llamas (Grand Canyon) and Eduardo Najera (Oklahoma) are four of just…
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