Practice is underway for the UCLA Bruins’ men’s basketball team but one Bruin isn’t present. Sophomore guard Eric Freeny is away from the team with an unspecified medical issue.
247 Sports reporter Connor Morrissette
reported that Freeny is away from the team on Tuesday. Morrissette reported that Freeny is “taking a leave of absence” and that it’s “unclear” whether or not Freeny will play at all this season.It’s certainly not encouraging news for Mick Cronin’s team, but it shouldn’t be a crushing blow either. Freeny was a bright spot for last year’s UCLA team but he did play just 11.1 minutes per game as a freshman.
In the limited action, Freeny averaged 2.0 points per game with 1.6 assists while shooting 37% from three. Freeny was likely to earn
a spot in UCLA’s new-look back court, with the Bruins set to rely on some new faces after Skyy Clark and Donovan Dent left the program following the 2025-2026 season.
Freeny is a former four-star recruit, who redshirted during the 2024-2025 season before fully joining the UCLA roster for their Round of 32 run last season. Freeny, the Corona, California native, opted to stay in Southern California for his college ball, choosing UCLA over offers from Cal, UNLV and New Mexico.
With Eric Dailey Jr., Trent Perry and Xavier Booker being joined by newcomers Nikola Kusturica, Jaylen Petty and Joe Philon, there’s plenty of reasons to be excited for the Bruins this season. Now UCLA will hope to have Freeny return to the team at some point during the 2026-2027 season.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: UCLA guard Eric Freeny is away from the team with medical issue
