The UCLA Bruins’ season got underway this week with wins against Lehigh and UC Irvine, but with a vastly different roster. Only sophomore Sienna Betts played meaningful rotation minutes out of last year’s returners, amid the recent season-ending injury to sophomore guard Lena Bilic.
UCLA has seven new players to acclimate this year, five from the transfer portal and two freshmen. Amid their first two games, Bruins head coach Cori Close is still figuring out her lineups and rotations, something she chalks up to the team still getting a feel for one another.
”I think we need to get a little bit more confidence in ourselves. I don’t think we have a real confident group yet,” Close told reporters following UCLA’s win over Lehigh on Nov. 2. “I think they’re a hopeful group, but I don’t think they’re a confident group yet. And I think they need more reps together. And so that’s where I have to do a revolving door to have accountability, that hurts progression.”
Through the first two games, Close has not been satisfied with her rotation. She’s played all 10 available players in both games, but it’s not so much the number of players that she’s using, it’s more so how much she’s had to sub based on what’s happening on the court.
The on-court cohesiveness is not there yet, and it’s had Close scrambling to find lineups that work. Yes, the Bruins’ have won their first two games in dominating fashion, but Close knows what lies ahead once Big Ten play begins and she’s trying to prepare as much as she can.
”I’m trying to find the balance of holding the right people accountable for the right things … my big deal was executing the scout, so if you’re gonna lose concentration, you’re gonna come out,” Close said after the win against UC Irvine on Nov. 5. “I think I’m choosing to sacrifice a little bit of rhythm right now to try to develop some accountability and habits. We’re sort of in that in-between stage right now. I haven’t found a rhythm I love yet.”
One player that has gotten into a solid rhythm to start is Betts. She’s expected to take on a larger role this year having moved into the starting lineup at her sister Lauren’s old center position, and she’s been an early focal point offensively.
Against Lehigh, she led the way with a game-high 15 points while shooting 7-for-13 from the field. She followed that up with a career-high 17 points against UC Irvine while missing only two of her 10 attempts.
It’s a radical shift for the budding sophomore who has not seen this type of defensive attention since high school. She’s faced more double and triple teams in two games than she did all of last season.
”I really worked hard mentally and with the coaches, just trying to be patient with myself. This is the first time I’ve had this kind of role in college. It feels like a different kind of pressure,” Betts told reporters after the win against UC Irvine on Nov. 5. “It’s really different and way harder. I think I’m just trying to learn how to be patient with myself and able to control myself mentally. Be able to pause and reset … and be able to perform how I want.”
Although Betts has stepped up and taken on a larger offensive role, Close doesn’t believe that this team has a consistent go-to offensive option yet. In the early-goings of the season, the Bruins are going to have to be a sum of their parts.
Betts has been the leading scorer through the first two games, but Close stressed it could be somebody else on any given night. While the team is trying to work out the kinks offensively, Close is adamant that they have to embrace a defensive mindset to be competitive and establish an early identity.
”I’m really trying to get our team to buy into that, that we are not gonna win by one person saying, ‘I’m gonna put you on my back today.’ It has to be a connected, collective effort,” Close said after the UC Irvine win. “We have got to become greater together than we can ever be individually. That has to be where we get to.”
Support 27 in ’27!
Help The IX Sports put a reporter on the ground in all 15 WNBA markets and all 12 PWHL markets in 2027 by contributing to our first-ever year-end campaign.
And it’s been one of the newcomers who has taken the lead in showing up defensively and setting the tone early on that end. KK Bransford has been tasked by Close with picking up full-court and applying ball pressure from the get-go.
Against UC Irvine, she started off the game with two steals in the first four minutes, both of which led to runouts and easy baskets in transition for the Bruins. Although Bransford prides herself on defense, the point of attack role is not something she’s used to.
”I think I try to start defensively, letting my defense feed my offense. I know that I have the help and my teammates are behind my back talking, communicating with me,” Bransford told reporters after the UC Irvine game. “So giving me all that confidence to kind of pressure and get up … I start the defense with being up top. So just being able to give that confidence to my other teammates and definitely starting off the games are of big importance.”
Close has settled on Bransford as her fifth starter for now, giving the Bruins a three-guard lineup. The other two guards are Elina Aarnisalo and Donovyn Hunter. Like Bransford, both committed to the Bruins via the transfer portal. But while Hunter is a newcomer, Aarnisalo played her freshman year at UCLA before spending a season at North Carolina.
Hunter has played alongside other capable ball-handlers and talents in the backcourt, first with Talia von Oelhoffen at Oregon State and then Olivia Miles at TCU. Now coming here to UCLA, getting to learn from someone who already has familiarity with Close and the Bruins’ system has made her adjustment a little easier.
”I’ve loved getting to know E … on the court she’s an amazing player, so to be able to kind of follow her lead, she has a lot of knowledge within this team already, how this system works,” Hunter told reporters after the Lehigh win. “Being able to be a sponge with her and learn how she’s reading things. We’re talking basketball all the time. Her composure is insane, she never wavers. …
“So to be able to carry that and kind of piggy-back off her and just take anything she’s giving me … she’s always there to answer my questions. So I love being able to play alongside her.”
Amid trying to find what lineups work and which lineups do not, there is still a standard that has to be upheld. That’s what comes with the territory after winning a national championship as the Bruins did last season.
Acknowledging and adhering to that standard doesn’t mean focusing on the past and making references to the title run. That’s old news, this is a clean slate. Betts knows that, and even though she’s only in her second season, she’s taken the lead in making sure that standard is followed without dwelling on last season.
”It’s a different team. And obviously I have confidence in what I know works every single day. I watched it work every single day and obviously we won,” Betts told reporters following the win against Lehigh. “I think carrying over that everyday routine and that standard, I have confidence in that and that’s gonna work.”
And as for Close, perhaps the biggest thing that’s challenged her so far is balancing upholding the program’s standard and being patient with the growth and development of young players and new faces.
She admits that she hasn’t been the most pleasant person during recent team practices, and that the players themselves haven’t been as understanding with some of the quick substitution patterns. But one way Close feels she can speed things up just a bit is reinforcing what the team has done well on the court and letting them know.
”I, as a coach, just have to keep holding the standard, but focusing on growth and character … I told them in the locker room, there’s some things you’re not gonna like when you see it on film,” Close said. “That healthy tension I’m trying to find is hold the standard, make sure they’re uncomfortable. No one grows the most in their comfort zone. And celebrate what I want to see more of. That’s the healthy tension I’m trying to find.”
