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Janiah Barker denies snubbing former UCLA coach in 'emotional' return
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- Janiah Barker denies snubbing former UCLA coach in 'emotional' return
The handshake line following UCLA's win over Tennessee women's basketball on Sunday appeared to get tense after Lady Volunteers forward Janiah Barker rebuffed her former UCLA head coach Cori Close.
Barker was one of six UCLA players to enter the transfer portal after the Bruins reached the Final Four for the first time in program history in the 2025 NCAA Tournament last season. Barker transferred to Tennessee for her senior year after spending one season at UCLA under Close, but Sunday's reunion seemed less than warm.
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Following UCLA's 99-77 win over Tennessee on Sunday, where Barker dropped a season-high 25 points against her former team, Barker and Close briefly shook hands before Barker pulled away from Close's attempted embrace. Close shrugged her shoulders in response as she continued down the handshake line.
After the incident, Barker took to social media to clear the air, writing, "Respect! We shook hands. I wish nothing but the best for Coach (Cori) and my UCLA fam."
Close was nothing but complimentary of Barker in her postgame press conference, saying, "I want to wish Janiah Barker nothing but the best. I think she is a spectacular player, she gave us a lot on the court, off the court. And I just want to make sure that I say I wish her nothing but the best the rest of the way through."
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Close said Barker was presented her UCLA Final Four ring ahead of the game, in addition to a handwritten note.
"I actually wrote her a card today... I just said, one of the things I'm always going to appreciate about you is how hard you always worked on your game," Close said. "And to see her shoot the ball the way she did today, this is the best shooting, three-point shooting night maybe she's had of her career and she works at that."
Barker said returning to Pauley Pavilion was "emotional," but said her mindset was to "focus on the game" and "not let my emotions go too high or too low."
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"It was definitely an emotional game," Barker said. "My mindset was just truly just focus on the game. I know there's a lot of other things that can play into it, but my thing was just keep the main thing, the main thing... Don't take it too personal. I don't even take it personal at all. It's just basketball."
Barker shot 9-of-17 from the field and 3-of-7 from the field in Sunday's loss and rounded out her stat line with three rebounds, two steals and four turnovers in 27 minutes. However, "If I'm being honest, I don't care how many points I scored. I'm upset that we lost. I wish that we would have came out here and won," Barker added.
UCLA Bruins forward Janiah Barker (0) high fives head coach Cori Close during the fourth quarter in a semifinal of the women's 2025 NCAA tournament against the Connecticut Huskies at Amalie Arena on Apr 4, 2025 in Tampa, FL, USA.
Barker spent the first two seasons of her collegiate career at Texas A&M, where she averaged 12.4 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 49 games (34 starts). She transferred to UCLA for her junior year and averaged 7.4 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 36 games (three starts) last season.
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Barker applauded Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell for "just really letting me be myself."
"She's letting me do everything that I wanted to do in college and I'm so thankful for that," Barker said postgame. "She also has me in a role of being a leader... I've been to a Final Four before, so I know what it looks like to win and it's put me in a position to lead this team. I feel like I didn't do that well today. It's a lot of things that I'm learning as well in this role, so I'm giving myself grace."
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: UCLA's Cori Close, Tennessee's Janiah Barker address tense handshake
