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Report: Former UCLA basketball player Jalen Hill dies after going missing in foreign country

James Fletcher IIIby:James Fletcher III•09/20/22•

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Former UCLA basketball player Jalen Hill has died at the age of 22, according to Stadium’s Jeff Goodman. The report states that his parents posted that he went missing in Costa Rica, but details on his passing are not available at this time.

Jalen Hill played for UCLA from 2018-21, spending time under both Steve Alford and Mick Cronin. Over three seasons, he appeared in 77 games with 40 starts but stepped away from the team for personal reasons before a Final Four run in 2021. Over his three seasons, Hill averaged 6.5 points and 5.9 rebounds.

After the season ended, Hill retired from basketball while citing mental health issues which he said began shortly after an incident on the team’s preseason trip to China. During a video posted online to explain the decision, the COVID-19 virus and subsequent isolation were also citing as contributing factors.

Jalen Hill retires from basketball after 2020-21 season

After walking away from basketball, Jalen Hill posted a lengthy video on Instagram to declare why he was making the decision and inform fans how he felt since stepping away in January. Among other things, he discussed the feeling which was lifted off him at the time.

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“I just had to distance myself because the headspace I was in, it was damaging the team,” Hill said. “So I didn’t want to restrict them from achieving their goals, too…

“I never felt this happy before in my life. Like, I just wake up and I’m just happy to be alive and it sounds crazy to say, but it’s just true and I’ve never felt like this in my life, and it was hard to me to go back to the team when I was trying to go back to a past life when I was trying to live up to somebody’s expectations of me, trying to live up to somebody’s perception of how my life should be instead of just being who I am.

“That’s the greatest gift you could ever give to anybody is just being who you are and I was doing stuff that was not me, so when I figured out that I couldn’t really go back, especially all the good stuff that’s been happening to me recently.”