UCLA players facing discipline back home
Print Edition
THREE US basketball players detained in China on suspicion of shoplifting are back home, but may face discipline by their university.
Freshmen LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday afternoon from Shanghai, their heads down, after US President Donald Trump said he had sought the help of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The three declined to speak to reporters before boarding a bus.
“What they did was unfortunate,” Trump told reporters earlier in Manila. He said the players, who had been held since last week, could have faced long prison sentences. Trump said he had a long conversation about the players’ status with President Xi. He described Xi’s response as “terrific.”
The players from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), were detained by police on November 7 in east China’s Hangzhou over shoplifting allegations.
The UCLA team was in China for a game against Georgia Tech in Shanghai last Saturday, which UCLA won 63-60.
Both teams were in Hangzhou earlier in the week to visit the headquarters of the game’s sponsor, Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
The three students were taken in for questioning by police about alleged shoplifting from a Louis Vuitton store.
They were released from police custody on November 8 and had been confined to a hotel pending legal proceedings.
Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott, who had not spoken with the three players, said what had occurred was a “very regrettable situation.” Pac-12 is the college athletic conference in which UCLA participates.
“I’m just glad it’s resolved and that they’re on the way home safely,” he told reporters by phone from an Anti-Defamation League Sports Leadership Council event in San Francisco. Since the matter did not occur on the court, it would be up to UCLA whether the players will be punished, Scott said.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block issued a statement on Tuesday saying that the university’s Athletics and Office of Student Conduct would review the incident and determine any potential discipline. He said such proceedings would be confidential.
“I want to be clear that we take seriously any violations of the law,” he said.
It wasn’t clear under what terms the players were freed to return to the US.
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