There are pros and cons to everything. UCLA’s Lauren Betts stands at 6’7, which gives her a huge advantage in the paint. She uses that height to dominate her defenders and easily score over them. However, it also has its disadvantages. As a center, she is constantly in the midst of physical plays. Normally, that would be an advantage, leading to free throws. However, Cori Close observed how many of the fouls on Betts are being ignored. 

UCLA blew out Northwestern 80-46 with Betts scoring 16 points, grabbing 5 rebounds, and handing out 6 assists. Despite the impressive performance, Cori Close maintained that Lauren Betts should get improved treatment from the referees. “She was frustrated, and actually, I was really proud. I asked our team after the game, ‘What did you conquer today?” Close said. “And she said, ‘I conquered being frustrated with the officials and being frustrated with, you know, how I was playing and really delivered in the second half.’”

Lauren Betts was met with very physical play against Northwestern, like she has all season. Despite the shoving and the handchecking, Betts shot only four free throws. But she can’t afford to lose her focus even if calls go against her. She is the best scorer on the team at 16.1 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. While the officiating is out of her control, Close still feels a responsibility to stick up for her player.

“I really challenge the referees to be like. I feel like I’m letting her down by not going absolutely ballistic to have her back because I just think she has way more to overcome than she should; I just think they need to call her a cleaner game before Lauren ever touches the ball,” Close said. “And I think some of those things wouldn’t be such big frustrations if they called some of those earlier fouls away from the ball.”

Betts’ physical advantage is very difficult to overcome unless you swarm her with double-team coverages. When going one-on-one, like Northwestern, they tried to employ some rough techniques to prevent Betts from posting up. They even called this out on air. The broadcast slowed down a play where Betts called for the ball in the paint and struggled to position herself under the basket because Northwestern was constantly nudging at her. She eventually secured the pass, but the contact forced her off balance, and she was called for traveling.

“Northwestern is celebrating the fact that she got called for a travel. But it was all the contact that happened to her that created that travel,” the commentator said. “Contact that never gets caught by the body. And then here, Grace Sullivan with two points of contact on her, two open hands on her. Again, two points of contact on her. That’s actually illegal by the definition of the rule book.” 

The message is clear: the referees must be attentive to the off-ball fouls as well. Especially when it comes to someone like Betts, who is prone to such physicality. In the WNBA, we had forwards like Angel Reese call out a similar level of physicality as referees in women’s basketball continue to miss fouls. That kind of treatment has led to increased injuries, something UCLA hopes to avoid in the case of Betts.

For UCLA, that becomes important to preserve Betts’ fitness and stamina. Last year, she was physically exhausted by the time they got to the final four. Fighting through such plays is a huge part of that erosion. Even so, the conversation around officiating is only part of Betts’ season. The other part is how she’s responding, and how UCLA restructured its offense to unlock her impact.

Lauren Betts Breaks Through as UCLA Re-Centers Its Offense Around Her

At different points during this season, Lauren Betts has struggled slightly. She has had 3 single digits games early in the season, but has found her groove in recent weeks. Against Northwestern, it looked like her early-season form was back as she scored just 5 points in the first half. As we discussed, she was struggling with her usual actions due to the physicality in the paint. 

“We really challenged the whole team to establish Lauren with some no move needed,” Close said. “And those were going to happen on the break to look for her earlier in transition and then to really focus on our feeds with her from the middle of the floor, which makes it harder to bring that double. So I thought having her score 11 of her 16 points in the second half, I was really proud of how she responded to that early adversity.”

This has been a major change in Betts. She has adapted to how defenses are planned against her. In the second half, there was more movement to counter the physicality, and she finished the ball around the rim upon receiving. When the system is formed to get Betts the ball, it gets everything going. Even the players are well-suited to give Betts the best atmosphere. 

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This team has enough outside shooting threats to prevent opponents from clogging the paint. Even if they shot just 24% on the day, they averaged 39.8% from three coming into the game. The threat is enough to spread defenses. Slowly but surely, Betts is evolving as a center, and Close will continue exploring different facets of her game as we approach March.