Eric Freeny will return to UCLA for his sophomore season

Eric Freeny announced on Saturday that he will be returning to UCLA for his sophomore season. If you just look at his stats, you would think this is not a big-time win for the Bruins. But that is quite the opposite as UCLA brings back a talented guard that will only get better. Freeny became a spark plug on the defensive end as the season went along. He wasn’t a guy that was going to go out and score a ton, but he played tough defense.

His trajectory during his freshman season was similar to breakout sophomore star Trent Perry. Perry was a freshman in the 2024 season and came off the bench to be a defensive spark plug. Not providing much on the offensive end but could help absorb minutes to throw different defenders at players. Freeny became that type of player for the Bruins late in 2025 now the hope is he will develop his offensive game in his sophomore season.

Freeny did have some games where he displayed offensive potential. He scored 10 points in the final regular season game against USC. Then had eight very important points against Purdue in the Big Ten tournament. With Donovan Dent and Tyler Bilodeau both out in that game, UCLA was desperate for offense and Freeny helped provide it. Now he looks to continue to grow that into his sophomore season as the UCLA roster starts to take shape for Mick Cronin.

Freeny will have a very good opportunity to become a starter next season. As UCLA has to think about rolling out a three-guard set again, if both Perry and Skyy Clark return to the roster. With Eric Dailey Jr. succeeding the most at the power forward position, there is potential with this UCLA lineup that could take place. Joe Philon comes in as a very good recruit and there is the potential that UCLA could go out and get some players through the portal.