VICTORIA, Canada – The new look UCLA Bruins got their first look at playing a game together on Wednesday against the Canadian National team and even if it ended in a loss for the Bruins, it was still a learning opportunity for a team that has essentially a completely new roster that itself has only practiced together for three days, by head coach Cori Close’s own admission.
There were a lot of positives early on, namely the dominance of sophomore forward Sienna Betts, who has firmly stepped into a starting role for the Bruins after an All-Big Ten Freshman team season.
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But as the game marched forward and Team Canada slowly broke away, the deficits in the Bruins’ game were revealed, mainly symptom of a team that is playing in July, months before the college season fully gets underway and before necessary adjustments in conditioning in order to outlast their opponents can be made.
Close’s Optimism
“I am actually really excited about who this team is going to become,” Close said. “I think we showed glimpses of what we’re going to become and then we showed a lot of things we really need to address… and get get cleaned up, but we talked about today that this game was going to show us our floor. It was [going to] show nothing about who we’re going to become later.”
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Betts stood out as the biggest positive of the game, serving as the dominant offensive engine for the Bruins and controlling the inside of the paint with her post and midrange skills as well as her strengths as a rebounder.
She’s also been confronted with a major upgrade in her usage, playing starter minutes for the first time in her college career. She made the most of those minutes, but having such a major jump in her responsibilities is a challenge in it’s own right.
Obviously it’s just only one game and it’s not like a real game yet, but honestly, I think it’s just way more minutes than I’m used to,” Betts said. “Got to get in better shape, but it’s only a couple weeks of practice. I think it’s just the mentality, fighting through. I feel like just when you have more gaps, like I did last year… I have to reach a different level of just being able to fight through, and I’m willing to attack that.”
Impressive Young Bruins
Other big standouts were Donovyn Hunter, the senior transfer from TCU, who stood out as an offensive force in the backcourt, and Bonnie Deas, the sophomore transfer from Arkansas who impressed with her offensive rebounding capabilities.
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In fact, it’s Deas’ rebounding, especially at her size, that first stood out to Close when she originally recruited her.
“It’s interesting when Sam Skinner, our general manager, brought her from the portal to me as an opportunity and he showed me her rebounding stats, I was like, ‘come on, seriously!’ Close said of Deas. “I had to go watch film and see that in the SEC consistently she found ways to come up with rebounds and it really comes down to want and effort.”
While one game in the middle of the summer is a small sample size, it’s also been a big revelation of what this new Bruins squad will look like when the 2026-27 season properly begins.
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