2025-26 Team Preview: UCLA

We are one week away. ONE.

This is the last team preview, finishing off 18 in 18 weeks. It’s a content grind certainly, but I love writing these and I hope you enjoy reading them. I have another one of my favorites — The Preseason Hoopla 40 — for you next week.

Also, a bit of surprising Big Ten news: Minnesota forward Mallory Heyer made a late entry into the transfer portal this past week. She’s been a consistent starter for the Gophers during her time there, but will now be looking elsewhere as one of the Big Ten’s most cohesive teams loses a key member.

Last Week’s Preview (Maryland)

Basket Under Review Post: Will UConn Repeat (Again)?

Table of Contents

• 2024-25 Overview

• Departures

• Returnees

• Incoming Players

  • A Brief Gianna Kneepkens Tangent

  • End of Tangent

• Outlook

2024-25 Overview

Expectations were mighty high for the Bruins entering their first season in the Big Ten. UCLA won 27 games in 23-24, and went to the Sweet 16 before falling to LSU. It was the program’s second straight 27-win season, but there was plenty of reason to believe it was only up from there.

The 24-25 season could certainly be defined as “going up.” UCLA reached a few key historic firsts, getting over the 30-win hurdle and making it to the Final Four for the first times in program history. It, of course, was also UCLA’s first ever Big Ten tournament title, getting revenge over USC after faltering to the Trojans twice in the regular season.

All of this made it head coach Cori Close’s most successful season yet from her 15-year tenure with the Bruins, despite it ending on a somewhat sour note. Following a revenge win over LSU in the Elite Eight, UCLA got pummeled — 85-51 — by UConn, the ultimate national champs.

UCLA was the best rebounding team in the country, and was by far the best in the Big Ten: The Bruins were as far ahead of second-place Maryland (+2.6%) as the Terps were to Michigan, who finished eighth in the conference. Dominating the interior also translated to UCLA’s conference-leading field goal percentage, something the Bruins accomplished despite relatively mediocre three-point shooting.

The offense was a strength, but it was helped plenty by UCLA’s equally impressive defense. The Bruins held opponents to 35.8% shooting and 0.88 points per attempt, both of which ranked seventh-best in the nation. UCLA also blocked the 12th-most shots in the country with 5.4 per game.

The Bruins didn’t force all that many turnovers and were good, not great, at avoiding them: UCLA finished with an 18.0% TO rate on both offense and defense, ranking 97th and 247th, respectively. The offensive turnovers could be forgiven for one of the least selfish attacks in the country, averaging the fourth-most APG in the country at 20.2.

Here's last year’s UCLA roster, sorted by Her Hoop Stats win shares:

Departures

Six UCLA exits to six power conference programs. Obviously it would be best for teams to keep their players, but it’s hard to argue with the decisions when six players outside of the team’s Top 5 in win shares all leave to other programs of significance.

Londynn Jones was a longtime Bruin and will now be going to their in-state rival. Jones struggled shooting the ball last season, but was still successful from deep and provided plenty of energy at guard. Janiah Barker, the other upperclassmen departing, was also a major source of energy, bringing it off the bench and earning Sixth Player of the Year honors in the process.

The other four transfers out of UCLA are all rising sophomores leaving after one season. In fact, it is UCLA’s ENTIRE 2024 freshman class that is out the door, something that will have an instant sting, but is more likely to hurt in 26-27 and beyond. Of these exits, Elina Aarnisalo was making the quickest transition to the college game. She was a terrific guard quickly for UCLA, and should thrive again in a different shade of blue.

Avary Cain, Kendall Dudley and Zania Socka-Nguemen stay in the Big Ten, and will be fascinating test studies for what could have been if they stayed at UCLA. Cain is a very willing three-point shooter, and Dudley and Socka-Nguemen seem like high-ceiling forwards for their versatility and size.

The Bruins will be seeing all six of these players again on their 25-26 schedule: Four Big Ten foes, a Nov. 13 neutral site matchup with UNC and a Nov. 30 home game with Tennessee.

Returnees

It’s impressive to lose all that up-and-coming depth and remain an easy choice for No. 1. But UCLA’s returning roster remains stacked, and that starts at the top with Lauren Betts.

The reigning Defensive Player of the Year took a massive leap last season. She broke 20 PPG for the first time, slightly improved her efficiency and rebounding, added almost a full block per game and more than tripled her total assist output from the year before. She was just better — and more complete — during her junior season, and that is a great sign for the ceiling that UCLA holds.

Remember that no good bad UConn loss in the Final Four? Plenty of questions to be answered from what happened in that game, almost none of which have to do with Betts, at least offensively. She scored more than half (26) of the Bruins’ 51 points on the day, shooting 11-of-18 with only one turnover and no personal fouls.

Betts is coming back with plenty of her primary reinforcements. That starts with Kiki Rice, who continues to play extremely well as the team’s point guard. She has taken big strides in her three-point shooting, continues to increase her assist numbers and did so with less turnovers than the year before. She’s also an active defender, and all the Bruins could really ask for is a little bit more volume (10.3 FGA in 23-24 → 8.7 FGA last season) from the senior guard, as she feels capable of raising the bar even further.

UCLA is so lucky to have Gabriela Jaquez and Angela Dugalič. These two, each entering their fourth season in Los Angeles, continue to provide tremendous minutes for the Bruins and play their roles about as well as anyone in the conference.

Both are key reasons for the Bruins being the nation’s rebounding leaders, and Jaquez has helped drive the play alongside Rice’s development. They both also had their best three-point shooting seasons of their careers in 24-25 on ~5 total attempts per game. If those numbers continue to improve, it will be a game-changer for one of UCLA’s weakest stats last season.

Timea Gardiner is the only returner to primarily have come off the bench last season, and she was a huge help at spacing the floor for the Bruins. She was UCLA’s best perimeter shooter and, as said above, will continue to be important to help the Bruins there.

Charlisse Leger-Walker and Amanda Muse both return after not playing last season, and Leger-Walker could be a true X-factor if she is the player she was at Washington State:

She’s used to a heavy workload and really became an all-around weapon as she went from a solid playmaker to one of the most productive passers in the country. Her ACL tear was in January 2024, and after a redshirt year to recover, I’m really excited to see what she adds to this roster.

Incoming Players

UCLA was going to be a Big Ten title contender with those returnees, even after its entire 2024 class left. What makes UCLA a national title contender, to me, is what its adding to that roster.

A Brief Gianna Kneepkens Tangent

Gianna Kneepkens is not just a great transfer, it might be the perfect transfer for these Bruins. She’s a guard with loads of experience who:

• Just ranked among the 30 most valuable players in win shares last season (29th)

• Has more than 100 games of experience, including multiple NCAA Tournaments

• Is among the best returning perimeter shooters in the country, both on volume (12th) and efficiency (28th)

• Was one (1) free throw percentage point away from a 50-40-90 on 381 FG attempts, 210 3PT attempts and 136 FT attempts. Do you know how many players have, in the past 16 seasons, finished the season with a 50-40-90 on even 300, 175 and 100 respective attempts?

NONE.

Not ONE player in recent history has done what Kneepens was two free throw makes away from doing. The closest 50-40-90 in terms of volume is Emily London’s 2010-11 Samford season: 50.8-47.6-93.5 on 317, 170 and 123 attempts.

Her only other peer, who also just missed the list on free throw percentage? Oh, just 2016-17 Kelsey Plum, nothing huge.

All of this is to say: UCLA’s weak point was shooting the three, the Bruins lost some exciting talent at guard, and so they went out and got the talent at guard that could help fix the issue offensively.

End of Tangent

Kneepens is the only true transfer that UCLA brought in. The hard to categorize addition is Megan Grant, a star on the softball team who may be able to add some wing depth.

UCLA has to, more or less, reset its young talent after the portal, and getting Sienna Betts to lead that charge is about as good as a team can do. Sienna is a touch smaller than her sister Lauren, but at 6-4 she offers a more versatile skillset, with Close emphasizing her “deadly three-point shot” and that she reminds her of a young A’ja Wilson. So, she may have some potential in there it seems.

Betts is the superstar name of the class, both for her sister’s reputation and her own impressive one, but don’t let the Lena Bilić add go under the radar. Bilić has put up some remarkable numbers in Europe for an incoming freshman and seems to be extremely advanced as a facilitator and scorer, both for her size at 6-3 and for being 18 years old.

She was named among the All-Star Five for her work on Croatia at this year’s FIBA U18 EuroBasket and could be a major threat immediately. Her Christina Karamouzi, who comes from Sweden, add to UCLA’s list of overseas adds that have made sizable impacts under Close during her tenure.

Outlook

Projected Starters

• Kiki Rice - G

• Gianna Kneepkens - G

• Gabriela Jaquez - G

• Sienna Betts - F

• Lauren Betts - C

Big Ten Finish: 1st

UCLA is a reigning Final Four team that got better. That’s hard to do, but I think it is hard to argue that this Bruins roster is an even stronger one that won 33 games last season, at least for the current campaign.

The starting five felt impossible to choose between, as I thought there was no way Dugalič or Leger-Walker could be left out of the lineup. Either of those two would make a ton of sense, but I think Sienna Betts is that exciting of a prospect that she will play next to her sister right away. Rice, Kneepkens and Jaquez is also such a nasty, nasty backcourt, as all of them can run the offense, shoot the ball or get to the rim at will.

That top seven I listed above doesn’t even include a player like Gardiner who will be so important once again for this group. It doesn’t include another sky-high ceiling player like Bilić, who I think will be a force off the bench quickly. This is a group with incredible top-end talent and incredible top-end depth, and if those pieces all stay healthy, I think there’s a case for UCLA being the best team in the country.

The concerns with Close’s team comes with having a 12-player roster, which includes a senior who has not yet played collegiate basketball. But this group feels like it should take a massive leap with perimeter shooting without losing all the facilitating, rebounding and defensive abilities of last year’s group.

It would be a major surprise to me if UCLA did not win the Big Ten in the regular season. I think the Bruins are a notch above the pack, but this is before any games have been played so I could be the most wrong man in the world. I think the Bruins will be looked mostly on a national perspective, and how they may match up with UConn, South Carolina or Texas, the latter of which the Bruins do play on Nov. 26.

This feels like a roster that is pushing all of its chips in for right now. Of course there are exciting freshman to develop along the way, but the Kneepkens add, the return of so much of the top-end production, it’s setting up for the second straight season of the best UCLA team in program history.

Can that end with the Bruins in the title game? A title? It absolutely can if Betts maintains her Player of the Year-type level, the pieces around her continue to develop and the group gets a boost from any of its impressive new faces.

Photo Credit: UCLA Women’s Basketball (@UCLAWBB), Twitter

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