What’s Bruin: President Trump Asked Xi Jinping to Help Resolve Case of Arrested UCLA Basketball Players

What’s Bruin this Monday? Well, there’s some more news out today about the “Hangzhou Three.”

UCLA Men’s Basketball

The Washington Post is reporting that President Donald Trump “personally asked his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to help resolve the case of three UCLA men's basketball players who were arrested for shoplifting while in Hangzhou for a tournament last week.”

The report also states:

After Trump raised the matter, Xi promised to look into the case and ensure that the players are treated fairly and expeditiously, said a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. Chief of Staff John F. Kelly has been in touch with the families of the players and has spoken with UCLA Coach Steve Alford, and Kelly remains in contact with Chinese authorities, the official added. This official indicated that charges against the players have been reduced and that the case is proceeding toward a resolution.

Editor’s Note: Bruins Nation has a long-standing Community Guideline prohibiting “Comments that bring politics, or other highly inflammatory non-UCLA related topics, onto Bruins Nation (which is a non-political blog).” Until now, UCLA Athletics has never caused an international incident such as this. Because the President’s action is relevant to the ongoing situation involving three Bruin athletes, an editorial decision has been made to report this news as well as allow a high-level discussion of the actions which the President of the United States has taken on behalf of the Bruins involved. That said, the moderators will allow a discussion of the President’s action, provided that the discussion does not sink to an emotional argument. The moderators will employ a VERY SHORT leash and will hide any and all comments deemed to be inflammatory or intending to incite a verbal fight in the comments. Under these special circumstances, we will only issue one strike to any member who crosses the line. However, anyone who does receive a strike may lose the ability to comment further on this article, at the sole discretion of the moderators. Our goal is to encourage a constructive conversation here about the Hangzhou Incident and will act in the best interest of a constructive conversation. For those who may still be unclear, here are examples of acceptable and unacceptable comments. "I'm glad the President stepped in to help." would be ok. "It's about time Drumpf did something good." would NOT be ok. This is meant as a guide to help you keep the conversation constructive and not argumentative.

UCLA Men’s Water Polo

#4 UCLA hosted #2 Southern Cal over the weekend and defeated the Trojans 12-11 with a sudden-victory goal.

The Trojans took a 3-2 lead in the first quarter. In the second, both teams scored two goals and it was 5-4, Trojans, at the half. After the Trojans extended their lead to 2, UCLA scored three consecutive goals to take a 7-6 lead, but Southern Cal scored the next two goals before Nicolas Saveljic tied it 8-8 to end the quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Southern Cal re-took the lead, but Alex Roelse’s power play goal with 3 minutes to go tied it 9-9 to send the game into overtime. In the first OT, Southern Cal scored with 21 seconds left but Saveljic tied it up with 12 seconds left. In the second OT, Roelse finished his hat trick, but the Trojans managed to tie it up with 38 seconds left to force sudden victory overtime. That’s when Matt Farmer drew a penalty shot which Roelse took and scored to give the Bruins the win to start off Beat $c Week the right way.

UCLA Women’s Basketball

In another blowout victory, UCLA defeated Presbyterian 76-40 to start the season off 2-0.

The Bruins went into the game coming off the school record of 129 points on Friday. From the beginning, UCLA had control of the game. The only time Presbyterian had any kind of control, was in the fourth quarter when they outscored UCLA 18-15. But by that time it was too late.

Monique Billings recorded 12 points, Kennedy Burke had 11, and freshman Chantel Horvat had 10. At one point in the fourth quarter, coach Close decided to give the freshmen valuable experience by allowing four of them to be on the court at the same time with only Burke on the floor to help guide them. An interesting approach, but nonetheless one that saw the Bruins finish out the game with a win.

While the first two games were blowouts, the next two will not be as UCLA takes on #3 Baylor and #1 UConn this week.

UCLA Women’s Soccer

UCLA advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after defeating San Diego State 3-1.

Anika Rodriguez opened the scoring with a free kick outside of the box that blasted straight to the back of the net. The second goal came minutes into the second half when Mackenzie Cerda crossed the ball into the box and Julia Hernandez was right there ready to redirect the ball into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.

While the Aztecs did get a goal back, the Bruins sealed the deal with a goal by Cerda who dribbled inside the box, took a defender, and curled the ball into the upper far post for the win.

UCLA will now host Northwestern on Friday night. A win will move the Bruins to a third round game at home against the winner of Friday’s Pepperdine-Virginia game.

UCLA Women’s Volleyball

While the Bruins tried to take home the win for their seniors on Senior Night, UCLA fell to Utah in four sets.

In the midst of the loss, senior Reily Buechler had another incredible game. She registered 22 kills with eight digs. Sarah Sponcil recorded a double-double with 51 assists and 15 digs to along with four blocks.

UCLA dropped the first set only to come back to win the second one. The third set was the most intense. There were 14 ties and six lead changes. While the Bruins evened the score 28-28, ultimately, Utah took the next two points to take the set, 30-28. The last set was not as close as the third as the Bruins fell 19-25 to lose their last home match of the regular season.

UCLA Men’s Soccer

UCLA lost their season finale against San Diego State 4-0. This game completes the program’s first losing season since 1952.

With the season now over, will Dan Guerrero finally fire Jorge Salcedo?


And, that’s What’s Bruin this Monday afternoon....


Go Bruins!