UCLA’s Trent Perry returns for his junior season

Photo Cred: Keith Birmingham/SCNG

Mick Cronin’s pitch to keep sophomore Trent Perry at UCLA started well before the offseason.

After the UCLA men’s basketball team beat Northwestern on Jan. 24, the Bruins’ head coach jokingly said, “Hopefully I can trick him into staying.” After the Bruins’ win over Washington on Feb. 7, Cronin shared that he has “pleaded desperately” to Perry’s parents for their son to remain in Westwood.

Cronin’s lengthy efforts worked as Perry will stay at UCLA for his junior season, a source close to Perry confirmed to the Southern California News Group on Saturday.

Inside look at why Donovan Dent is transferring to UCLA

Photo Cred: Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune

This season, Donovan Dent led New Mexico to its first NCAA Tournament victory since 2014. He averaged 20.5 points and 6.4 assists per game, both ranking in the top 15 nationally, and was named Player of the Year in the Mountain West Conference.

On Tuesday, when the junior point guard announced he was transferring, he earned the No. 1 rank of any available player in the portal.

Simply put, when it came to choosing where he’d play his senior season, Dent had the pick of the litter.

“Donovan is good enough to play anywhere,” Josh Giles, who coached Dent at Corona Centennial High, told the Southern California News Group on Friday.

To be specific, Dent could have selected Kentucky or Gonzaga, or any of the other blue bloods reportedly pursuing his services. Instead, he picked UCLA, a commitment that became official Friday night.

UCLA guard Skyy Clark entering the transfer portal

Photo Cred: Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune

UCLA senior guard Skyy Clark has entered the transfer portal, multiple sources have confirmed to the Southern California News Group.

Clark played at UCLA for the past two seasons after transferring from Louisville and playing his freshman season at Illinois prior to that. With a total of four years in college, he filed for a fifth year of eligibility.

It was originally expected he would remain with UCLA if that fifth year were granted.

“It wouldn’t be like he was trying to get another year to go somewhere else,” one source close to Clark told the SCNG on March 10. “He’d get another year to stay at UCLA, with the idea to be under (Coach, Mick) Cronin again.”

Aaron Butler explains sudden stop at Calabasas and why he can’t wait to join Deion Sanders at Colorado

Photo Cred: Jack Gillespie

On Friday afternoon, two hours before Calabasas High’s football team kicked off its Marmonte League opener against Oaks Christian, wide receiver Aaron Butler and his family were on their way to Los Angeles International Airport.

A flight was going to take them to Boulder, Colo., to be in attendance at Colorado’s football game against USC.

But just before they had loaded the car Friday, Butler, a four-star recruit who committed to Colorado in May, announced his decision to forgo the final five games of his senior season at Calabasas, enroll in online classes and graduate high school early so that he could be on campus at Colorado and begin classes and working out with the football team.

UCLA’s Eric Freeny intends to stay for sophomore season

Photo Cred: Keith Birmingham/SCNG

Redshirt freshman Eric Freeny intends on remaining with the UCLA men’s basketball team, multiple sources close to Freeny have confirmed to the Southern California News Group.

Freeny, a 6-foot-4 guard out of Corona, played 11 minutes per game this past season, averaging 2.0 points and 1.6 rebounds per game. Over the final third of the season, he emerged as a key bench piece for the Bruins.

He hit a pair of 3-point shots in UCLA’s 71-60 win at Penn State on Jan. 14. He grabbed four offensive rebounds in a 72-52 victory over Nebraska on March 3. He tied a season-high with 23 minutes in UCLA’s 73-66 Big Ten Tournament semifinal loss to Purdue, scoring eight points and tallying five rebounds.