Late December is usually a slow time in the college basketball world but, at UCLA in recent years, “slow times” don’t exactly exist. To be fair, the Ball family has now officially vacated the program after LiAngelo and LaMelo landed in Lithuania on professional contracts. But the connections to the family still persist and one of them popped up on Friday.
Before the Bruins began play for the 2017-2018 season, LiAngelo was famously arrested for shoplifting in China, setting off a chain of events that included a publicized thank you to President Donald Trump and indefinite suspensions for two additional UCLA players. Those two players, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley, haven’t taken the floor this season. Now, it is official that they will not be doing so over the course of this particular campaign.
UCLA announced that both freshman are suspended for the entire season, even with the caveat that Hill and Riley have cooperated fully with every instruction from the program. Head coach Steve Alford said the following in a published statement from the university.
“Since returning from China, they have done everything asked of them and continued to work hard in the classroom and in their own personal workouts. I’ve told our players all along that actions have consequences, and the season-long suspension shows how seriously we take their misconduct. Though they will not suit up for games or travel with the team, I look forward to their return after the Christmas holiday. I am confident that they will make significant contributions to the university moving forward.”
To be fair, this isn’t a surprise and, while neither player will be traveling to road games, they’ll be permitted to return to practice in full this week and that is actually a big step. Neither Riley nor Hill was expected to dominate on the floor for UCLA as rookies but, in the same breath, both were more significant recruits (at least according to rankings) than LiAngelo Ball and the Bruins likely expect some level of contribution from the duo in the near future.
The UCLA Bruins will not be dealing directly with LaVar Ball and his sons anymore but discipline finally landed and that keeps the story going … for now.
