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Tyler Bilodeau injury update: UCLA forward to miss game vs. UCF with soreness

ns_headshot_2024-clearby: Nick Schultz03/20/26NickSchultz_7

UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau will miss Friday’s game against UCF, the program said. He is dealing with soreness and will be held out of the Round of 64 matchup.

Bilodeau injured his leg during the Big Ten Tournament against Michigan State and did not play in the conference semifinal game against Purdue. The hope was he would be back for Friday’s first game of the NCAA Tournament against UCF, but it appears he will not be able to go.

Bilodeau was listed as questionable on the availability report on Thursday. He is UCLA’s leading scorer with 17.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game this year.

Heading into March Madness, UCLA was hoping both Tyler Bilodeau and Donovan Dent would be able to make impacts while dealing with miscellaneous injuries. Dent was off the availability report, signaling he was good to go, but Bilodeau remained questionable.

UCLA coach Mick Cronin said the two participated in practice this week. He added he was hopeful they would be able to suit up against UCF.

“They looked good today,” Cronin said. “We already practiced, so we’ll do some shooting here in our court time. So knock on wood.”

UCLA went 23-11 during the regular season to set up the matchup against UCF in the NCAA Tournament. The Knights put together a strong season under Johnny Dawkins to become a No. 10 seed in the dance, and Cronin acknowledged their scoring talent on offense, as well as their experience.

“Central Florida can score,” Cronin said. “They’re athletic. They’re old. [Themus] Fulks keeps me up at night because he can get in the lane whenever he wants. He’s great off the pick and roll and he doesn’t even need a pick and roll. He can go left to right. He makes good reads. He does a great job of getting in the lane while under control, doesn’t play out of control. He’s a problem. I have seen Riley Kugel since high school. He played for a friend of mine in high school in Orlando, Ben Witherspoon. So I know he’s a very good player and has gotten better as he’s gotten older.

“They can shoot it. They’ve struggled of late which means law of averages, that’s going to flip. They’re an athletic, aggressive team. We’re talking about a team that wins over Texas Tech, Kansas, BYU, Texas A&M’s in the tournament, they have some serious wins.”