”I don’t have a lot to say about that right now, but that is really amazing and I’m excited to see what the future holds,” Betts told reporters following the win against Southern. “But I just love being a Bruin as of right now, so I’m gonna focus on that.”
Betts is one of the top prospects on WNBA teams’ radars. But as good as she is, there are still parts of her game she can fine-tune to prepare herself for the next level.
One aspect of her game that she’s looked more comfortable with this season is her midrange shot. Betts is arguably the most dominant low-post college player in the country. But with the shifting game and bigs becoming more well-rounded, a consistent 12- to 15-foot jump shot will help Betts be more effective in the WNBA.
Betts credits UCLA assistant coach James Clark for helping her work on her shot.
”I’m very comfortable shooting shots like that. Honestly, it gives me a little bit of a break sometimes of posting up all the time and getting beat up on, so it’s kind of nice,” Betts said. “Any way that I can get better, that’s what I’m going to do. JC’s done a really good job this season just working on different skill sets that I haven’t usually done the past three years, so I’m just really thankful for him. But I’m going to continue to grow in that for sure.”
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During Betts’ freshman season at Stanford, she took eight shots outside the paint and made two (25%), per Synergy Sports. During her sophomore season at UCLA, she took 11 shots from the same range, connecting on five (45%). Last season, she took 14 shots outside the paint, making four (29%).
This season, Betts has taken 10 shots outside the paint, knocking down four (40%). Through her first seven games, around 15% of her total shot attempts, as per Sports Reference, are coming from outside of the paint. When compared with her first three seasons combined, less than 4% of her shot attempts came from outside the paint.
For UCLA head coach Cori Close, Betts’ desire to improve her game has really shown this season in particular.
”There’s just no substitute to hard, intentional work,” Close told reporters after the Southern win. “And she’s just been really good about saying, ‘OK, I want to add this to my toolbox this year. This is my next progression.’ And she actually had the perimeter shot last year; she just wasn’t confident enough to take it all the time. And then she put an incredible amount of work [in] this summer on her perimeter jump shot.”
”She used to never do this, but now she’s showing up early. She’s there at 8 a.m. getting extra pregame work,” Close continued. “Her work ethic and doing things outside of practice has really increased. And we always say, the work done in the dark always eventually gets revealed in the light, and I think you’re seeing that in Lauren’s game.”
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In addition to her perimeter shot, Betts has also been working on reading the defense and making the right passes out of the post. She hasn’t always looked as comfortable when the defense swarms her and she’s forced to kick the ball out.
But being able to handle defensive pressure is going to be key at the WNBA level. Betts acknowledged handling double-teams is something she’s also made a point to work on.
“Teams are really focused on double-teaming, which is not different. But I think with how many shooters I have around me, just making those reads a little quicker,” Betts said. “I think I’ve tried to bring that into practice, just making sure that I’m reading things quicker, trusting my shot, my go-to post moves. Just things that I had done before, just really keying in on that and being a little bit more aggressive.”
Betts was eligible for the WNBA Draft after last season, but she decided to return to UCLA in hopes of competing for a national championship. What her decision also did was give her the opportunity to get the kinks out of her game and solidify herself as a WNBA lottery pick.