UCLA star Johnny Juzang withdraws from NBA Draft, returns to Westwood
It's a good day in Westwood.
Mick Cronin and the UCLA Bruins learned on Wednesday that leading scorer and NCAA Tournament darling Johnny Juzang will spend at least one more season at Pauley Pavilion, after Juzang announced on Instagram and Twitter that he would withdraw his name from the NBA draft pool and return to school for the 2021-22 college hoops season.
"Going through the draft process has been an amazing experience. I was blessed to connect with great people, learn and grow, and get a feel for life at the next level," Juzang wrote. "I want to thank everybody who has helped me in this process including my family, trainers, school, and especially my dad who helped for countless hours!
Added Juzang: "Westwood, I can't wait to go to war! We've got a team full of warriors and there's nobody I'd rather fight beside. With Coach Cronin and our staff, I'm very excited for this season. Let's do something special!"
Juzang averaged 16.0 points and 4.1 rebounds for the Bruins during the regular season, shooting 44.1% from the field and 35.3% from 3.
However, it was his remarkable NCAA Tournament run that earned him a spot in the UCLA record books and catapulted the Bruins all the way to the Final Four.
Juzang – who transferred from Kentucky to UCLA prior to last season – put up 22.8 points per game in six tournament tilts, including 23 against Michigan State in the First Four round, 27 against BYU in the first round, 28 against Michigan in the Elite Eight and 29 against Gonzaga in the Final Four.
During the Bruins' tournament run, he shot 51.1% from the field and 37.5% from distance, and common belief was that Juzang had bolstered his NBA draft stock after just a single season in Westwood.
Juzang indeed entered his name into the draft; however at the NBA Draft Combine in June, his performance was underwhelming.
In two scrimmages, Juzang scored 11 total points and shot a combined 5-for-21 from the field – including 1-for-8 from 3 – in 40 minutes of play.
With that, the chatter began to swirl that Juzang would return to school, and he put that chatter to rest on Wednesday.
However, returning to UCLA might not be the worst of scenarios for Juzang, given the new NIL rules that came into effect just last week. He finished the season as arguably the most popular individual player in all of college basketball, and will now have an opportunity to take advantage of that popularity from a financial standpoint.
In addition, the Bruins will return every impactful player from their Final Four run outside of Chris Smith, who missed the tournament and a majority of the season with a torn ACL before this week announcing that he would turn professional.
The Bruins will also welcome to campus five-star forward and California's top-rated high school player, Peyton Watson, the sixth-ranked player in the class of 2021, according to 247sports.
Watson is currently in Latvia as a member of the USA team competing in the FIBA U19 World Cup.
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