UCLA men’s basketball’s Jaylen Clark to miss postseason with Achilles injury
Junior guard Jaylen Clark holds a pair of crutches on the bench. Clark will miss the rest of the UCLA men’s basketball season with an Achilles injury sustained Saturday. (Jeremy Chen/Assistant Photo editor)
By Jon Christon
March 8, 2023 12:26 p.m.
Jaylen Clark will miss the rest of the season with an Achilles injury, according to a report from Stadium’s Jeff Goodman on Wednesday.
The junior guard hurt his lower right leg in a noncontact play in No. 2 UCLA men’s basketball’s win over No. 8 Arizona on Saturday. Coach Mick Cronin said Tuesday that Clark would miss this week’s Pac-12 tournament, but that he was not authorized to share any more about the injury.
Clark’s official diagnosis and a projected injury timetable are still unknown.
UCLA will have to replace Clark’s 13 points and 30.5 minutes per game, the team’s second- and third-best marks, respectively. Clark was awarded the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year on Tuesday morning and leads the conference with 2.6 steals per game.
Fifth-year guard David Singleton is projected to take Clark’s spot in the starting lineup for postseason play, with freshman guard Dylan Andrews, redshirt freshman guard Will McClendon and freshman guard/forward Abramo Canka all set to see an increase in playing time.
UCLA will begin its postseason run without Clark on Thursday in a quarterfinal Pac-12 tournament matchup.
