PHILADELPHIA — A day after saying he expected to play, Tyler Bilodeau was held out of UCLA’s NCAA Tournament opener.
The Bruins’ leading scorer went through the morning shootaround and pregame warmups Friday before experiencing soreness in his right knee and sitting out, according to a team spokesperson.
As his teammates came out for their final warmups, Bilodeau had put on a pair of black sweatpants.
Xavier Booker replaced Bilodeau in the starting lineup for the seventh-seeded Bruins’ game against 10th-seeded UCF at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Bilodeau had seemed optimistic about a return after spraining his right knee in the first half against Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament last week.
“This is March Madness,” Bilodeau said Thursday, “so you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”
BIlodeau averaged a team-leading 17.6 points to go with 5.6 rebounds.
