Tyler Bilodeau makes NBA statement with game against Minnesota on Saturday

Tyler Bilodeau strengthened his NBA case with a tremendous game against Minnesota on Saturday. The Bruins senior forward has had a great season scoring the basketball. Leading the team averaging 18.1 points per game on the season. Doing so on 51% shooting and 45% from 3-point range. He is also a very good free-throw shooter at 86.3%. Helping chug the Bruins offense along that has shown inconsistencies this season in some games.

UCLA has had a roller coaster type of season. They have shown games against Purdue and Illinois that they can be a good NCAA tournament team. Then they will have games such as Cal and Minnesota that show they could lose a game in the first round. Or not even make the tournament due to the inconsistency. Bilodeau has shown his growth on offense as he looks to be a 2nd round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.

Bilodeau has the tools to score the basketball at the NBA level. But he is seen as a tweeter player. Will he be a power forward at that level? He doesn’t have a set position and similar to Jaime Jaquez Jr. a few years back, there are questions about a position. Jaquez Jr. has turned into a very good NBA player for the Miami Heat. So, the hope is that Bilodeau can do the same. His 3-point shot gives him a very good opportunity to do that. As the NBA has become so reliant on shooting 3-point shots over 2-point shots.

With the 32-point outburst against Minnesota it will only help Bilodeau’s resume. He will now have two more games this season against Nebraska and USC to continue strengthening that resume. Then the Big Ten tournament will come around. With nothing guaranteed after that as UCLA is fighting for a NCAA tournament position. So, every minute for the rest of the season will be valuable for Bilodeau and then he will most certainly get an invite to the NBA combine. It will be interesting to see what he can do with it.