Three UCLA basketball players held in China for shoplifting are suspended indefinitely by college
‘They will have to earn their way back,’ says coach Steve Alford
They expressed their regrets in low monotones, occasionally looking up from prepared statements while glancing around a room jammed with 20 television cameras and about 75 media members who had come to learn their fate.
UCLA basketball players LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill on Wednesday admitted to stealing merchandise from inside a shopping centre in Hangzhou, China, last week. They apologised for their actions, thanked the US government for intervening on their behalf and left the media conference held in Los Angeles, without taking questions, to an uncertain future.
The trio, all freshmen, were suspended indefinitely from their team as the university reviews the thefts from three upscale stores during a goodwill visit in which the Bruins opened their season by defeating Georgia Tech in Shanghai.
“I know that this goes beyond letting my school down, that I let the entire country down,” Riley said from behind a table in a room inside Pauley Pavilion.
Each of the players read their statements, one immediately following the other, before exiting the room together. As Hill rose to leave, coach Steve Alford tenderly patted him on the back.
“What I did was stupid, there’s just no other way to put it, and I’m not that type of person,” Hill said. “This mistake will not define me as a person, but it shows that I have messed up and can learn from it. I don’t want to be known for this dumb mistake, I want to be known for my respectfulness and my love and passion for the game of basketball.”
