UCLA Basketball: The Family Factor Behind A Standout Sophomore's Strong Season
Dylan Andrews was recently named Pac-12 Player of the Week amid a remarkable stretch for the sophomore point guard. From Jan. 28 to Feb. 4, Andrews averaged 19.5 points, 5.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals.
Overall this season, Andrews is leading the team minutes (34.9) and assists per game, and ranks third in points (11.4). It's a remarkable turnaround for a player who was routinely questioned early in the season as to whether he could run an offense after taking over for departed floor general Tyger Campbell.
As chronicled by Ben Bolch in the Los Angeles Times, Andrews' maturation was more than a case of a young basketball player coming into his own.
Off the court, Andrews was grieving the loss of his grandfather, Jimmy, who died in Aug. 2022. The 2022-23 season was a trying one for the budding star, according to Breeze McDonald, Jimmy Andrews' goddaughter and Dylan Andrews' youth coach:
“People try to push you through it, like you’ve just got to get going, like this is your life, but you’ve lost a whole part of your life, so it took him a minute, yeah. I saw it because I know him, I saw it on the court, I saw it in his focus, it would show up in different odd places, and I had to remind everybody around him that he lost somebody big.”
— Breeze McDonald, via the Los Angeles Times
As Bolch reports, Jimmy Andrews' mentorship has continued to inspire Dylan Andrews this season as he's come into his own. "Everything I do is for him," Andrews told the TImes.
The Bruins had their six-game winning streak snapped Sunday by Utah. They're 14-12 overall and 9-6 in Pac-12 play coming into Saturday's crosstown rivalry game against USC.
