Season Preview

The Bruins have returned five of their 11 main contributors from the 2021-22 season, a year in which UCLA finished 27-8 overall with a trip to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16. Back in the fall of 2022 are seniors Tyger Campbell, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kenneth Nwuba, and David Singleton and junior Jaylen Clark. UCLA’s program has also returned a pair of redshirt freshmen in Mac Etienne and Will McClendon, who both missed last season with knee injuries (torn ACL). The Bruins have added six freshmen – guards Dylan Andrews, Amari Bailey, Abramo Canka, Jack Seidler and forwards Adem Bona and Evan Manjikian. Both Campbell and Jaquez Jr. were named preseason first-team All-Pac-12 selections, as announced by the league office in late October (the Pac-12 announced 10 players on a first team, and five student-athletes on a second team). In addition, Bailey and Clark were listed as honorable mention all-league selections in the Pac-12’s preseason announcement. Campbell and Jaquez Jr. were both honored as first-team All-Pac-12 selections at the conclusion of the 2021-22 season.

“The reality is that having two seniors in Jaime and Tyger, who could very well become All-Americans, that’s just very rare,” Cronin said. “For our program to have five players back from a team that played in the Final Four [in 2021], you do not have that every day, and I’m well aware of that.”

UCLA’s backcourt production starts with Campbell, who will enter his fourth season as the team’s primary point guard. He earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors the past two seasons. Campbell appears to be primed for another strong campaign. He averaged 11.9 points and 4.3 assists per game last season, but elevated his shooting percentages across the board. He shot 44 percent overall, 41 percent from 3-point distance and a team-leading 83.8 percent at the free throw line as a junior in 2021-22. “For him to be selfless, he needs to shoot more,” Cronin said. “He’s an elite shooter, one of the best in college basketball and his role is changing. He knows not to turn the ball over, and on top of that, I’ve been telling him that he has to hunt shots for the first time in his career. I’m on him about that, and I want him in Steph Curry mode.” Bailey and Andrews both have the ability to assist Campbell at the point guard position. Bailey, a 6-foot-5 guard who excelled at nearby Sierra Canyon School, was a McDonald’s All-American last season and is expected to contribute from the start. Andrews, a 6-foot-2 guard, has been hailed by Coach Cronin as one of the fastest players he has ever coached. Clark had a strong sophomore campaign for UCLA in 2021-22 and looks to take on a more prominent role. He averaged 6.7 points and 3.8 rebounds in 29 games last year, shooting nearly 51 percent. During a six-game span in February, he averaged 13.8 points per game. Clark scored a career-high 25 points in a home win over Washington and followed that performance with a 16-point and nine-rebound effort against Arizona State. Jaquez Jr. broke into the Bruins’ starting lineup less than three weeks into his freshman campaign (2019-20). He’s never looked back. The 6-foot-7 guard/forward from Camarillo, Calif., has been one of UCLA’s most consistent and reliable players over the past three seasons. He averaged 13.9 points and a team-leading 5.7 rebounds per game last year, capturing first-team All-Pac-12 acclaim after having been named a second-team allleague pick in 2020-21. The versatile Jaquez Jr. excelled on both sides of the ball, earning Pac-12 All-Defensive Team honors for the second straight season. “Jaime has shown every year that he can score more and more points,” Cronin said. “He was an elite scorer at Camarillo High School and he’s going to score a ton of points this season. He can play multiple positions, and that’s what the NBA is all about now. Guys like Jaime, in the 6-foot-7 to 6-foot-9 range, can do multiple things and that really can translate to the next level. He’s a proven winner, and when that day comes next June, he will get drafted and will be able to contribute right away.” Players expected to contribute in the frontcourt include Bona, Nwuba and Etienne. While that trio will be counted upon to anchor the Bruins’ frontcourt, the 6-foot-6 Canka could contribute as a swingman after enrolling at UCLA in the summer (from Genoa, Italy). Bona, at 6-foot-10 and 235 pounds, earned McDonald’s All-America honors as a senior at Prolific Prep in Napa, Calif., last season. Nwuba has contributed off the bench for the Bruins the past two seasons, and Etienne spent the past year recovering from a knee injury sustained in Oct. 2021. All three players – Bona, Nwuba and Etienne – stand at 6-foot-10 and will be relied upon heavily to shoulder the load in the frontcourt. As for expectations heading into the season, UCLA’s mission and focus remain simple. “I tried to make it clear when I took this job in 2019,” Cronin said. “If you come to play at UCLA, you have a responsibility to play to win and to upload the tradition. If you’re going to put on these four letters, then you’re going to win.”

2021-22 Record 2021-22 Pac-12 Record: 2021-22 Pac-12 Finish: 2021-22 Home: 2021-22 Road: 27-8 15-5 2nd 14-1 8-4

2021-22 Neutral: Lettermen Returning/Lost: Starters Returning/Lost: Newcomers:

4-3 6/6 2/3 6 Fr/So/Jr/Sr 8/1/1/5 Head Coach: Mick Cronin (4th year at UCLA) Overall Record: 433-201 (19 years) Cronin’s Alma Mater: Cincinnati ’97 First Year of Basketball: 1919-20 All-Time Record: 1960-886 (.689) NCAA Tourney App: 51 NCAA Final Four App: 19 NCAA Championships: 11 Number of 20-Win Seasons: 53 Number of 30-Win Seasons: 9 NIT Appearances: 2 UCLA Enrollment: 45,900 Nickname: Bruins School Colors: Blue and Gold Conference: Pac-12 Director of Athletics: Martin Jarmond

UCLA’S RETURNING PLAYERS – CAREER STATS

PLAYER

David Singleton Jaime Jaquez Jr. Tyger Campbell Jaylen Clark Kenneth Nwuba Mac Etienne Russell Stong Logan Cremonesi

PLAYER

David Singleton Jaime Jaquez Jr. Tyger Campbell Jaylen Clark Kenneth Nwuba Mac Etienne Russell Stong Logan Cremonesi

GAMES STARTS PPG RPG APG

127 24 4.7 1.5 0.9 97 89 11.8 5.5 1.8 96 96 10.2 2.3 4.9 60 6 4.6 3.1 0.6 55 1 0.6 0.8 0.1 13 1 2.6 2.8 0.2 26 0 0.2 0.2 0.1 5 0 0.0 0.2 0.0

MPG FG-FGA FG% 3FG-FGA 3FG% 16.8 199-461 .432 146-333 .438 30.5 415-879 .472 83-250 .332 32.3 352-850 .414 92-284 .324 13.4 110-218 .505 9-37 .243 5.2 13-29 .448 0-0 .000 11.4 15-25 .600 0-0 .000 1.6 2-7 .286 1-5 .200 1.0 0-1 .000 0-0 .000

BRUINS’ BREAKDOWN BY CLASS

Seniors (5)

Tyger Campbell* Jaime Jaquez Jr. Kenneth Nwuba* David Singleton ^ Russell Stong ^

Ht. Wt.

5-11 180 6-7 225 6-10 255 6-4 210 6-3 200

^ has returned for a fifth season of eligibility (granted by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic)

Juniors (1)

Jaylen Clark

Sophomores (1)

Logan Cremonesi*

Ht. Wt.

6-5 205

Ht. Wt.

6-8 220

Freshmen (8)

Dylan Andrews Amari Bailey Adem Bona Abramo Canka Mac Etienne Evan Manjikian* Will McClendon* Jack Seidler

* has utilized a redshirt season

6-2 170 6-5 185 6-10 235 6-6 200 6-10 235 6-8 230 6-3 190 6-4 190