Transfers Will Play Big Role For Bruins This Season

The UCLA Bruins added several new players to their roster from the transfer portal who shined early in the team's exhibition match on Wednesday night.

Oregon State forward Tyler Bilodeau goes up for a shot as the Oregon Ducks host the Oregon State Beavers Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024 at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore. / Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK

The UCLA Bruins are going to be a completely different team this year after the performances shown by three of the newest players of the program.

The Bruins earned a big 100-64 win over Division II school Cal State Los Angeles. Junior forward and Oregon State transfer Tyler Bilodeau was the leading scorer with 24 points in his debut with the Bruins.

"I'll definitely say I was pretty comfortable," Bilodeau said after the game. " ... Great passes from my teammates give me the opportunity to make some moves down there. That's what I like to do so just overall, felt pretty good about it."

Another transfer that made a huge impact was junior guard Skyy Clark, who came over from Louisville. He finished with 17 points right behind Bilodeau. Clark was the main guy with the Cardinals last season and is very pleased with the fact that he has multiple other pieces around him.

"Yeah absolutely, I got a lot of guys around around me," Clark said. "Kobe Johnson had 11 assists, which is huge for us; he's been really big for us all summer and all preseason. So yeah, it definitely takes a load off of me just having a lot of guys around me that can that can do more."

The most veteran transfer player that has come over to the Bruins in 2024 is a senior guard that Clark had mentioned in his postgame press conference that already played college basketball in the state of California.

Johnson, a USC transfer, was 2 points away from his first double-double of the season, recording 8 points and 11 assists. He averaged 10.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in his junior season with the Trojans. This is a major asset for the Bruins this year.

With several new players joining the fold, it is expected that this team will need a few games to get comfortable together and mesh. They seemingly did not skip a beat and the preparation that head coach Mick Cronin gave his guys over the summer is starting to pay off as the season tips off.

"It was really good ... really good summer, just a lot of new guys," Bilodaeu said. "So, learning a lot, I think that's been one of the biggest things just coach Cronin has done a great job teaching us just the ins and outs of the game. But to come tonight, to play another team, it was great. Spent a lot of time playing against each other so it was good to play someone else."

The Bruins will start regular season play on Monday night when they battle Rider University at home. Cronin and his program are responding after a 16-17 record last season, missing the NCAA Tournament. They will kickstart their campaign in the Big Ten this year in hopes of a better season.

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