After an uncommon trajectory to the beginning of his faculty profession, UCLA’s Dylan Andrews is shifting elsewhere to complete it.
The junior level guard entered the switch portal on Wednesday, ending a herky-jerky profession as a Bruin through which he rose from a not often used freshman to a star through the second half of his sophomore season earlier than taking a substantial step again as a junior.
In his last season at UCLA, Andrews by no means recaptured the shape he confirmed late in his sophomore season, when he averaged 17.1 factors over his last 14 video games and performed at an all-conference degree.
Andrews’ manufacturing dipped throughout the board this season, his averages of 6.9 factors and three.4 assists to go together with a career-low 37.9% taking pictures from the sector serving as a limiting issue for the Bruins. His play bottomed out with a scoreless, five-turnover efficiency throughout UCLA’s season-ending loss to Tennessee within the second spherical of the NCAA match.
Amongst these the Bruins are believed to be pursuing as a alternative is former New Mexico level guard Donovan Dent, the Mountain West Convention participant of the yr who’s searching for a brand new residence via the switch portal for his last faculty season.
In an fascinating twist, UCLA coach Mick Cronin had prompt that his New Mexico counterpart, Richard Pitino, recruit the 6-foot-2 Dent out of Corona Centennial Excessive as a result of Cronin had already picked Andrews to be his subsequent level guard.
“Dylan had committed to us,” Cronin mentioned in November, “and I told Richard — not that he needed me to tell him, his staff was on this — that this guy is going to be tremendous; we already had Dylan Andrews coming in in the same class. I saw Donny play a million times whether it was AAU or with Centennial.”
Displaying his capability to be a playmaking power, Dent led New Mexico with 17 factors and eight assists throughout a 72-64 victory over UCLA in November. He averaged 20.4 factors and 6.5 assists whereas taking pictures 49% and making 40.9% of his three-pointers.
UCLA will retain guard Skyy Clark, who informed The Instances that he meant to return subsequent season after a robust end to his first yr as a Bruin. Clark, who averaged 8.5 factors and made 39.7% of his three-pointers, can deal with the ball however may be finest utilized as a taking pictures guard.
Along with Clark, UCLA’s roster at present contains guards Trent Perry, Sebastian Mack, Eric Freeny and Dominick Harris, although there may very well be departures from amongst that group. Andrews turned the third UCLA participant to enter the switch portal, becoming a member of heart William Kyle III and ahead Devin Williams.
