This is the introductory portion of an ongoing summer basketball series that highlights the UCLA men’s basketball program during the summer months. Stay tuned to uclabruins.com this summer for additional chapters about the Bruins.
Roster Construction
The Bruins are still nearly 100 days away from tipping off the 2026-27 season, but the foundation of the next UCLA team is already taking shape.
The season begins with a national spotlight – a Nov. 2 showdown against Arizona in Las Vegas – but the more important work happening right now is taking place away from the bright lights. As UCLA has moved into its third week of summer workouts inside the Mo Ostin Basketball Center, the Bruins are learning how much of last year's identity can carry over.
In an era when college basketball rosters can turn over faster than a shot clock, UCLA has something increasingly valuable: familiarity.
Eric Dailey Jr. Trent Perry. Xavier Booker. Brandon Williams. Eric Freeny.
These five returning pieces played meaningful roles on last year's 24-12 team. The roster construction, headed into the 2026-27 campaign, started with an existing foundation.
Williams, Dailey Jr., Freeny, Perry and Booker represent something increasingly rare in college basketball: players who know the program, the system and the expectations. Williams enters his fourth year at UCLA, while Dailey Jr., Freeny and Perry return for their third seasons in Westwood. Booker brings three years of college experience, including two at Michigan State, into his senior season with the Bruins.
“Retention is very important in this day and age, because some teams have absolutely no retention,” Bruins’ head coach Mick Cronin said. “Starting over is extremely tough. We did it in 2023 when all our guys graduated. Adem Bona was essentially our lone soldier returning, that next season. So looking ahead, for us to have all five of our scholarship guys who could return, when the rules were what they were in the spring, that’s extremely important. They’ve shown a lot of loyalty in this program. They have shown belief in the development that they’re receiving, and they have a real appreciation for UCLA and the education here.”
Three of those five veteran players spent the majority of last season in the Bruins’ starting rotation – Dailey Jr. (35 starts), Booker (27 starts) and Perry (24 starts). Each of those players had at least one game with 20 or more points.
Perry, who averaged 12.6 points per game in 35 contests, stepped up in a major way in the second half of the season – in particular when Skyy Clark was sidelined for 10 Big Ten games with a strained hamstring. The 6-foot-4 guard out of West Covina, Calif., scored a career-best 30 points in UCLA’s road win at Penn State on Jan. 14, sinking all 12 of his free throw attempts.
Dailey Jr. led UCLA in rebounding (5.8 rpg) as a junior and registered four double-doubles, including back-to-back double-doubles in games against Michigan State and Purdue at the Big Ten Tournament.
Booker averaged 14.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in the Bruins’ two NCAA Tournament contests, shooting 6-for-11 in UCLA’s final three games – against No. 18 Purdue, UCF and No. 7 UConn.
“You could make an argument that Xavier Booker was our best player in our two NCAA Tournament games,” Cronin said. “I thought that he really came strong late, and we want to make sure he continues that.”
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Summer’s in Session
UCLA’s summer workouts started in earnest during the week of Monday, July 6, and will continue into early September, as the Bruins operate on the academic quarter system. The fall quarter will begin during the week of Monday, Sept. 21, meaning the Bruins’ summer basketball instruction is now in full swing.
What goes into summer workouts?
Core fundamentals, from a broader perspective. Summer work becomes a training ground for teaching the finer details of team defense, installing offensive concepts, working on floor spacing and hammering home the importance of great shot selection.
“With our offense, we will spend time to de-program bad habits that guys develop from playing pick-up basketball or working outside of the program,” Cronin said. “Whether that is one-hand passes or other things that will get you beat, like playing off one foot. Fundamentals are the basis of everything, whether that’s a golf swing, or the way a quarterback handles the ball and his footwork. For us in basketball, the man with the ball is taught that he has everybody’s life in his hands. He has to take care of the basketball as though his teammates’ lives, not just his, depend on it.”
Turnover discipline and being strong with the ball have been cornerstones of UCLA’s program during Cronin’s seven seasons in Westwood.
Last season, UCLA ranked eighth in the nation in assist-turnover ratio (1.81) and fourth in the Big Ten. In four of the past five seasons, the Bruins have led their conference in turnover margin – either in the Pac-12 or the Big Ten. UCLA forced 121 more turnovers than they committed last year, tops in the Big Ten and No. 18, nationally.
The Bruins’ 3-point shooting has also been a strength. Last season, UCLA ranked second in the Big Ten in 3-point percentage (37.9%) behind Purdue (38.3%). Two years ago, the Bruins had the sixth-best long-range percentage in the conference (35.2%).
“Basketball nowadays is about spacing, and we hammer home what is a good shot,” Cronin said. “We’ve been a high percentage 3-point shooting team, and shooting at a high percentage helps get you drafted like with Tyler Bilodeau. Look at why he shot at a high percentage – shot selection, shot preparation. We’ll spend time in the summer each week on our shooting and our skill work.”
Bilodeau, selected No. 43 by the Brooklyn Nets in last month’s NBA Draft, led the Big Ten last season in 3-point percentage. The 6-foot-9 forward from Kennewick, Wash., knocked down a blistering 46.4 percent of his 3-point attempts. He led the conference in 3-point percentage, logging UCLA’s best single-season mark since David Singleton shot 47.6 percent from long-distance on UCLA’s 2020-21 Final Four squad.
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