Jalen Hill, a former UCLA basketball player, passed away on Wednesday morning at the age of 22.
Hill’s passing is “heartbreaking,” according to UCLA coach Mick Cronin, who added that the former Bruins forward “was a warm-hearted young man with a great smile who has left us far too soon.”
Hill’s family revealed in an Instagram post that they recently learned of his passing after he went missing in Costa Rica, but they withheld any other information.
“We know Jalen has played a part in the lives of so many people,” his family wrote in the Instagram post. “We also acknowledge the role that so many of you have played in his. As we try to navigate this devastating time in our lives, we ask that you please give us time to grieve.”
Josh Giles, Hill’s basketball coach at Centennial High School in Corona, California, told the Los Angeles Times that he “a great basketball player, but I just loved him as a person.”
Giles told the Times that he has spoken with Hill’s family and said, “I’m so stunned I don’t really have an emotion right now. To hear something like this is next-level devastating.”
The 6-foot-10 Hill played for UCLA for a total of three seasons in spurts until declaring his retirement following the 2020–21 campaign, claiming anxiety and sadness in an Instagram video. He quit the squad in February 2021 but did not disclose his departure until April, citing his desire to avoid interfering with the Bruins’ quest for the Final Four.
“I just had to distance myself because the headspace I was in, it was damaging the team,” Hill said in the video. “So I didn’t want to restrict them from achieving their goals, too.”
Along with LiAngelo Ball and Cody Riley, Hill was one of three UCLA athletes detained in China in November 2017 on suspicion of stealing. He missed the 2017–18 season due to a suspension, but he returned the following year. During his time with the Bruins, he played in 77 games and averaged 6.5 points and 6.4 rebounds.
