Why Three UCLA Players Danced to Tate McRae After Winning National Championship

Gabriela Jaquez, Lauren Betts and Charlisse Leger-Walker put the moves on after defeating the Gamecocks in the national championship game. | Jordan Naholowaa Murph/Sports Illustrated

Shortly after winning the national championship on Sunday evening, three players for the UCLA Bruins—Charlisse Leger-Walker, Gabriela Jaquez and Lauren Betts—took to the stage before a huge crowd at Mortgage Matchup Center.

Once on the platform, they did not grab the mic. They did not hold up the trophy or throw their championship hats.

They performed a dance. And to Tate McRae, no less.

Now, if you hadn't been following along with the Bruins’ season, the trio’s celebration might have seemed a touch random, or at least surprising, in the moment. But to those who had been keeping up with UCLA in recent weeks, the performance was not just familiar ... it was expected. In fact, the three players have been breaking out the act plenty since first debuting it in March.

Here’s a look at the story behind the number, which is now synonymous with the title-winning team:

What is the story behind the dance?

Back in February, Bruins guard Leger-Walker posted a video to her YouTube channel titled “Can We Make the UCLA Dance Team in 24 Hours?” In the 24-minute vlog, Leger-Walker and teammate Jaquez challenged the Bruins’ dance team to teach them an entire halftime routine in one day’s time. And, if the video got 1,000 likes, Jaquez and Leger-Walker promised to then perform the dance at halftime of a men’s basketball game.

Lo and behold, the like benchmark was eventually reached, which meant that Leger-Walker, Jaquez and center Betts (who was later recruited to join) made good on the deal and danced to Tate McRae’s “Just Keep Watching” during the men’s game on March 3.

The performance soon made a splash online.

“This team is all about fun,” Betts said at the time. “And this is the type of fun that we like to have. We genuinely love doing things like this together. I never thought something like this would happen but here we are. And I think it just shows the type of chemistry that this team has. Like, look at us out here dancing and then winning basketball games.”

“Lauren and I have been wanting to take a dance class in L.A. for a long time,” added Jaquez, speaking to ESPN. “We both grew up dancing, and we love to dance in the locker room and stuff. But this wasn’t just like a TikTok dance, it was the real thing. So when Charlisse came up with this idea, we were all-in.”

The trio also performed the dance throughout the tournament, but gave it one more (and perhaps final?) rendition in front of the trophy on Sunday. It was a fitting way to end things, of course; the best way to celebrate a win in the Big Dance is obviously to bust a move.

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