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UCLA

Mick Cronin provides injury update on Adem Bona entering NCAA Tournament

Screen Shot 2024-05-28 at 9.09.17 AMby:Kaiden Smith•03/13/23•

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(Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

UCLA will enter the NCAA Tournament as the No. 2 seed in the West Region, facing  UNC Asheville on Thursday night to kick off their March Madness journey. But they may have to go into battle without their biggest presence in the paint. Freshman forward Adem Bona left the Bruins Pac-12 semifinal game versus Oregon with a shoulder injury.

Bona missed UCLA’s Pac-12 Championship game versus Arizona, and his status for the NCAA Tournament remains unknown. But head coach Mick Cronin gave a recent update on the physical and mental health of his big man.

“These guys will tell you, this guy’s in a good mood at all times. He’d be a guy if we had to go to war and we got captured he’d be a guy in a good mood in prison camp, like this dude’s unbelievable. His attitude, it’s unbelievable, these guys will tell you,” Cronin said at a press conference seated next to seniors Jaime Jaquez, David Singleton, and Tyger Campbell.

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It’s good to know Bona is in high spirits following his injury. He started in every single game for the Bruins during his freshman season prior to missing the conference championship game. He leads the team in blocks per game with 1.7 and also has the teams highest field goal percentage at 66.9% on the season.

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Bona has been reliable in the paint all season long for UCLA, known for high effort on both ends of the floor. He injured his shoulder early in the second half against Oregon diving for a loose ball and left the game in obvious pain as trainers made keeping his shoulder and arm from moving much a top priority.

“But he’s not nearly as sore today as he was yesterday,” Cronin said. “After seeing him today I’m much more optimistic, he’s much more pain free today so that’s exciting.”

There are still a few days until NCAA Tournament play starts for the Bruins, which means more time for Bona to rest, rehab, and recover from his injury. His status for Thursday’s game still has some ambiguity, but Cronin made it known that Bona will be a tough player to keep off of the court moving forward this postseason.

“Just knowing him, how he is, it’ll take a lot to keep him off the floor,” Cronin said.