UCLA Dealt Brutal Injury Blow Ahead Of College Basketball Postseason

UCLA guard Jaylen Clark

Getty Image / Soobum Im


Over the weekend, the UCLA Bruins scored their biggest win of the college basketball season.

They got revenge against Arizona to close out their Pac-12 schedule, but the win came at a price.

Junior guard Jaylen Clark left the game early with an injury.

Today we learned the full extent of that injury.

According to Stadium’s Jeff Goodman, Clark will miss the rest of the season with a torn achilles.

The timing couldn’t be worse for UCLA.

They enter the PAC-12 Tournament as the conference’s top seed after only losing 2 conference games during the regular season.

They even have a chance of earning themselves a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament if they can continue to dispatch Pac-12 competition like they did during the regular season.

That will get a bit more difficult now though.

Clark is a phenomenal defender and a key piece of a stellar UCLA defense. He is also 2nd on the team in scoring, contributing 13 points per game while also grabbing 6 rebounds per game and dishing out 1.9 assists per game.

With Clark out, there will be even more pressure on the Pac-12’s Player of the Year, Jaime Jaquez, as he tries to lead the Bruins on another deep NCAA Tournament run.

Last season they made a Sweet Sixteen appearance and the year before they shocked college basketball fans by going form the First Four to the Final Four.

We’ll see if one of college basketball’s best teams can overcome such an impactful injury this late in the season.