Visiting Locker Room: The IX Basketball talks UCLA Bruins

In the remaining 18 games of the regular season for No. 19 Ohio State women’s basketball, 17 are Big Ten matchups. On Sunday, arguably the toughest of the 17 games takes place in Columbus when the No. 4 UCLA Bruins come to the Schottenstein Center.

Both teams return from a brief Christmas holiday break with different expectations. For the Bruins, they are a team heavily favored to win the conference and go on a deep postseason run. Ohio State is a team full of questions.

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To learn more about the Big Ten heavyweights, Land-Grant Holy Land reached out to The IX Basketball and Big Ten writer David Mendez-Yapkowitz. What are the team’s weaknesses? What about the Betts sisters?

That and more in the visiting locker room.

Land-Grant Holy Land: At this point, all college basketball fans know about the skills of Lauren Betts, but injury delayed her sister Sienna Betts’ introduction. What are the freshman’s skills and what has she shown in her two limited appearances?

The IX Basketball: While Sienna Betts has been on a minutes restriction since she’s made her UCLA debut, she’s already shown she can help the team in the immediacy while being a strong building block for the future. She’s possesses a high basketball IQ and is already among the best passers on the team. Her vision, especially in the high post, adds another dimension to the UCLA offense.

She’s capable of drawing contact and getting to the free-throw line, and in only her second game back, she was among the team’s leading scorers with 14 points. She can play forward alongside her sister Lauren, or she can slide up and play center with someone like forward Angela Dugalic at the four.

LGHL: UCLA lost Londynn Jones and Janiah Barker to the transfer portal, but added Gianna Kneepkens. What do the Bruins miss without the two role players and how has Kneepkens helped fill them?

IX: Consistency and familiarity are still important in the age of the transfer portal, and that’s exactly what Londynn Jones would have provided. Not to mention her fearlessness and toughness on a team that can have issues with physicality. In terms of Janiah Barker, the Bruins had another legitimate go-to scorer that may not have been used properly during her lone season at UCLA.

But with the addition of Gianna Kneepkens, UCLA has managed to offset those losses. Kneepkens is capable of being a go-to scorer herself, and has added another offensive weapon to a deep Bruins’ team. She plays very well off UCLA’s other scorers, moving off-ball and freeing herself up for catch and shoot 3-point opportunities. On any given night, she can be the Bruins’ leading scorer. She’s also shown a solid playmaking game. UCLA coach Cori Close has mentioned that with Kneepkens’ shooting in the lineup, opposing defenses, such as UConn in last season’s Final Four, aren’t able to shrink the floor as much defensively.

LGHL: Lauren Betts is having a quieter 2025-26 season after a career year as a junior. Is that more UCLA not needing her to be everything or are teams adjusting how they face the center?

IX: It’s a little bit of both. Close and Lauren Betts have talked about the physicality and swarming defense that Betts often faces. As we’ve seen with big players across the spectrum from the NBA to the WNBA and in college, officials tend to let a lot go when it comes to opposing players and fouls. Betts has done a solid job addressing some of those issues with improved decision-making out of double-teams. Teams are still going to be physical with her and try to push her around, but she’s starting to react to it better.

And on the other hand, this UCLA team is probably the deepest they’ve had in the Close era. Betts simply has more weapons around her to help take the offensive load off of her. With Kiki Rice, Gabriela Jaquez, Giannia Kneepkens, Charlisse Leger-Walker and even Angela Dugalic, the Bruins have multiple players capable of having big offensive games. In UCLA’s loss to UConn in last season’s Final Four, there was nobody outside of Betts who was able to step up and provide support. This season, each of those players have put in the work to where it’s become much harder for opposing defenses to guard.

LGHL: What weaknesses, if any, do you see for this UCLA side?

IX: There are a couple of issues that the Bruins can run into as the season goes on. One such issue is consistency. During UCLA’s nonconference schedule, although they’ve been beating teams handily, Close hasn’t always been pleased with the team’s overall focus and consistency. They’ve had a tendency to take their foot off the gas at times rather than play a full 40-minute game. They have made strides though with consistent effort throughout the entire game.

The other issue is defense. UCLA is one of the best offensive teams in the country, but they are more middle of the pack on the defensive end. Close has admitted that she doesn’t believe this team is a Final Four team just yet, because of said defensive issues. But she has also said that she believes this team can get to that point. With a tough Big Ten Conference schedule coming up, we will see early exactly how this UCLA team stacks up.