Close said she’s ‘hopeful’ freshman forward Sienna Betts will make her collegiate debut in UCLA’s matchup against Cal Poly on Tuesday at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. Betts, the younger sister of first-team All-American center Lauren Betts, has been sidelined for the first 10 games of the season with a lower leg injury suffered during a scrimmage against UC Riverside in October, delaying the five-star recruit’s highly anticipated debut.
‘We’re really hopeful that we’re getting close,’ Close said after UCLA’s 80-59 win over Oregon on Dec. 7. ‘Sienna (Betts) is going to be a really big part of where we’re going. She is incredibly impactful for us. … We need her for us to go where we need to go and want to go, and we’re going to need her growth and productivity.’
If Betts does suit up on Tuesday vs. Cal Poly, expect her to be on a minutes restriction.
‘My hope is that she’s going to be able to get some minutes against Cal Poly,’ Close added. ‘As she progresses back, there are certain percentages she has to meet without symptoms to be able to work her way back. And so I would expect that she’ll be really mad at me when I take her off the court.’
Lauren Betts said she’s ‘super excited’ to play alongside her sister: ‘When she gets to be on the court with me for the first time, that’s going to be a really special moment.’
‘This has been a really up and down process for (Sienna),’ Lauren Betts told USA TODAY over the weekend at the Team USA training camp. ‘Obviously no one wants to be injured, especially going into your first year in college. So she’s been amazing. She’s been putting in a lot of hard work and I’m so excited for her.’
Lauren Betts said she’s been Betts’ biggest cheerleader throughout her recovery and has constantly reminded her ‘how valuable she is,’ even if her younger sister doesn’t listens to her much. ‘(Sienna) is very stubborn, and even though I’m the older one, she doesn’t really want to listen to me,’ Lauren Bets joked.
‘She’s very much needed on this team and she’s an amazing basketball player, and just because she’s out right now doesn’t mean that she’s left out and that she’s behind,’ said Lauren Betts, who is averaging 14.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.3 blocks through 10 games. ‘She’s done the work. We see it every single day, and she continues to get shots up. They have to force her to get off the court.’
Betts, the No. 2 player in ESPN’s 2025 class, received offers from many schools, including South Carolina, Notre Dame, USC, UConn and Michigan, before ultimately choosing to team up with her sister at UCLA. In her senior season at Grandview High School in Aurora, Colorado, Betts averaged 23.5 points, 16.5 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 3.4 blocks. She was named the 2024-25 Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year for the third consecutive season.
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.