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UCLA guard Skyy Clark loses tooth after diving for ball in NCAA Tournament vs. UCF

Grant Grubbs Profile Pictureby: Grant Grubbs03/21/26grant_grubbs_

Skyy Clark left it all on the court, including a tooth, in UCLA‘s first-round NCAA Tournament win over UCF. After diving for a ball late in the second half, Clark absorbed an elbow to the mouth, causing one of his front teeth to fly through the air in dramatic fashion.

Clark headed to the bench after chipping the tooth, but quickly returned to the game. In the narrow triumph, Clark recorded eight points, a rebound and two assists on 3-5 shooting from the field.

The senior guard has been a standout for the Bruins this season. Skyy Clark is averaging 11.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, while shooting 46.0% from the floor and 43.2% from beyond the arc.

UCLA was without star forward Tyler Bilodeau against UCF. He suffered a knee injury in the Bruins’ win over Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament.

Bilodeau’s injury was a significant blow to UCLA.  He is averaging 18.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game this season. For his efforts, he was named an All-Big Ten Third-Team selection earlier this month.

With the win Friday, UCLA advanced to the Round of 32 for its second consecutive season. The Bruins have reached the Sweet Sixteen twice under head coach Mick Cronin. On Thursday, Cronin discussed the keys behind his successful postseason runs.

“You got to have players. If you can’t coach, you’re not going to be in those tournaments. If you’re not able to adapt to different rosters, the better players you have, the further you go,” Cronin said. “… At the end of the day, I saw my man, the great Geno Auriemma, somebody said, ‘What’s been the key for him?’ He said, ‘I got a lot of great players’ phone numbers, meaning because they played for him. That’s the whole key to getting in these things and advancing in them.’

“But perseverance. If I was to give advice to somebody, you can never be easily defeated. Times will get tough. It’s not always easy. You can never be easily defeated. Never.”

On Sunday, UCLA will play the winner between 2-seed UConn and 15-seed Furman. The tip-off time for the Bruins’ Round of 32 game hasn’t been released as of this report.