Aaliyah Crump enters the portal and is a perfect fit to UCLA on a three-year timeline

Aaliyah Crump hits the transfer portal out of Texas after a decent freshman season. She will have three years of eligibility remaining as she looks for a new opportunity. Crump had a great start to her college career. Over the first nine games that she played in, she averaged 13.3 points per game. After those first nine games are playing time began to be phased out. But she provides good potential and has three years to grow her game.

Crump is a 6’1 guard so she provides really good size. She could be an easy plug and play next to Lena Bilić who will be back for her sophomore year. UCLA will be on the hunt in the transfer portal to try and rebuild their roster. It will not be easy to do as they’re losing their top six players. They could take the route of long-term growth and potential in players with multiple years of eligibility.

Crump averaged 7.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game on this season. Also, in her limited time she averaged a steal per game. Showing that she has the defensive potential to help the Bruins as well. Two-way players are something that Cori Close looks for. The 2025 team had one of the best defenses we have ever seen. It will be very hard to 100% replicate that, but finding above average defenders can help absorb some of those losses.

Crump can also continue to develop her 3-point shot. She showed some games that it is there but needs to focus on consistency. She had three attempts per night and connected on 31.5% of those attempts. But you look at past players such as Gabriela Jaquez and Kiki Rice. They also could not hit their 3-point shots their freshman year. But hard work and the offensive system helped build them into great shooters over time. Crump can do the same.