UCLA's Johnny Juzang Out Against Oregon State, Day-to-Day With Ankle Injury
The Bruins will once again be without their leading scorer.
No. 12 UCLA men's basketball (20-6, 12-5 Pac-12) guard Johnny Juzang is out for his team's game against Oregon State (3-23, 1-15) on Saturday, a UCLA Athletics spokesperson confirmed to All Bruins. Juzang has been diagnosed with a sprained right ankle and is listed as day-to-day.
Juzang suffered the ankle injury while running a fast break in the first half of UCLA's game against Oregon on Thursday night. Juzang was fouled and spun to the ground before sliding into the stanchion and hobbling off the court while Ducks fans were heard on the TV broadcast yelling at him to stop limping.
The missed game Saturday will be the fourth contest Juzang has missed in the past month. Juzang was ruled out of the Cal and Stanford games in late January due to a positive COVID-19 test – although he was asymptomatic and returned after five days – and he missed last week's game against Washington after falling off an electric scooter and injuring his hip.
Prior to this current stretch of coming and going, Juzang hadn't missed a game all season, and was last held out of a game in the 2020-2021 regular season finale against USC with an ankle injury. Coach Mick Cronin said at the time that he was taking every precaution with Juzang's ankle to make sure he was good to go for the Pac-12 and NCAA tournaments.
UCLA has two regular season games remaining after facing Oregon State – a road game against Washington and another home finale against the Trojans.
Juzang is UCLA's leading scorer this season, putting up 17.0 points to go along with 4.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. Juzang ranks third on the Bruins in player efficiency rating this season at 19.9, narrowly trailing guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. and guard Jaylen Clark.
In his 11 games prior to going down against Oregon, Juzang was averaging 19.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game with a positive assist-to-turnover ratio while shooting 46.1% from the field 38.6% from deep and 88.9% from the free throw line. While he has yet to consistently reach the heights he put on display in March Madness last season, the All-American candidate has still broken 20 points eight different times this year.
Without Juzang in the starting lineup, Jaquez, Clark and guard Jules Bernard are expected to be the starting wings with guard Tyger Campbell at the point and center Myles Johnson down low.
UCLA and Oregon State are set to tip off at 1:10 p.m. in Corvallis. The next chance Juzang has to take the court will be Monday night against Washington, who the Bruins beat 76-50 without Juzang on Feb. 19.
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