UCLA provides injury update on forward Cody Riley
One of UCLA’s top players is out the rest of this week with a knee injury, the school announced Wednesday. He’ll be re-evaluated next week.
Cody Riley suffered the injury in the first half of Tuesday night’s 95-58 win over Cal State Bakersfield. He didn’t return, and it sounds like the Bruins will play their next game against Villanova on Friday without their top post player.
In 31 starts last season, Riley set career highs with 10 points and 5.4 rebounds per game for the Bruins. He had three rebounds in just under four minutes of action in Tuesday night’s win before suffering the injury.
Riley played a big role for the Bruins as they made the Final Four last year as a No. 11 seed. The redshirt senior forward is expected to continue to make an impact this season, as well.
UCLA and Villanova face off Saturday at 8:30 p.m. PT on ESPN2.
UCLA cruises to season-opening win over CSU-Bakersfield
UCLA tipped the season off with a huge 95-58 victory over Cal State Bakersfield Tuesday night, even without Riley for most of the game.
Johnny Juzang led the charge with 19 points and Jaime Vazquez Jr. had 14. Three other Bruins had 10 points as part of a balanced scoring attack.
It was a great shooting night for UCLA, too. The Bruins went 31 of 62 from the floor, including 13 for 27 from three-point territory. On the other side of the ball, they held CSU Bakersfield to 37.5% shooting from the field.
UCLA was picked to win the Pac-12 and had three players — Juzang, Vazques and Tyger Campbell — voted as Preseason All-Conference selections.
The Bruins had a magical run in last year’s NCAA Tournament, becoming the second team to ever go from the First Four to the Final Four. They were also the first No. 11 seed to make the Final Four since Loyola Chicago in 2018.
UCLA played in some close games, too, starting with an overtime win over Michigan State in the First Four game. From there, the Bruins rattled off wins over No. 6 seed BYU, No. 14 seed Abiline Christian, No. 2 seed Alabama and No. 1 seed Michigan before falling to No. 1 seed Gonzaga.
Mick Cronin’s group is trying to build on that magical run this year, checking in at No. 2 in the preseason AP Top 25. The Bruins have a huge second game coming up on Friday as No. 4 Villanova comes to Los Angeles. Tip-off for that game is at 8 p.m. PT on FS1.