UCLA players face discipline after China trip
LOS ANGELES — Three UCLA basketball players detained in China on suspicion of shoplifting returned home, where they may be disciplined by the school as a result of the international scandal.
Freshmen LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley arrived at Los Angeles International Airport late Tuesday afternoon after a 12-hour flight from Shanghai.
The players were detained in Hangzhou for questioning following allegations of shoplifting last week before the 23rd-ranked Bruins beat Georgia Tech in their season-opening game in Shanghai as part of the Pac-12 China game. The rest of the UCLA team returned home Saturday.
UCLA chancellor Gene Block said the school is weighing its options for discipline.
The school said the three players, along with coach Steve Alford and athletic director Dan Guerrero, will make their first public comments about the matter at a campus news conference Wednesday but won’t take questions.
In other college basketball news:
• Georgia Tech star Josh Okogie will serve a six-game suspension, while teammate Tadric Jackson must sit out three games for accepting benefits in violation of NCAA rules. Okogie and Jackson already missed the Yellow Jackets’ season-opening loss to No. 23 UCLA.
• The NCAA cleared North Carolina State’s Braxton Beverly to play immediately after reconsidering an ineligibility ruling tied to summer courses the freshman took at Ohio State.