UCLA Men's Basketball Addresses the Media

Below are remarks made by UCLA freshmen Cody Riley, LiAngelo Ball and Jalen Hill, head coach Steve Alford and Director of Athletics Dan Guerrero on Wednesday morning in Pauley Pavilion.

Cody Riley
"I want to start off by saying how embarrassed and ashamed I am for disappointing my family, my teammates, my coaches and the entire UCLA community. I feel terrible and I am so sorry to everybody who I have let down. With that being said, I take full responsibility for the mistake that I have made – shoplifting. I know that this goes beyond me letting the school down, but I have let the entire country down.

Before I thank everybody who worked so incredibly hard to help us return home safely, I want to thank the Chinese police and government for taking care of us and treating us well during our time there.

To President Trump and the United States government, thank you for taking the time to intervene on our behalf. We really appreciate you helping us out.

Thank you to all of the Pac-12 representatives for all of your time and support. Thank you to Dan Guerrero for sticking by our sides and doing whatever you could to help us get through this. Thank you to Chris Carlson for taking the time out of your schedule to stay with us the entire time and guide us every step of the way. To Doug Erickson, thank you for also staying with us and giving us guidance with everything. To my teammates – thank you for being there for us throughout this process. You guys mean so much to me. To Coach Alford, Coach Tyus, Coach Broussard and Coach Grace, thank you for all of your support. You guys have always believed in me, not only as a basketball player, but also as a person. I am so sorry for letting you all down.

Lastly – to my family. Mom and dad, you guys have raised me to be smart and always make the right choices. You've never left my side, and it hurts me the most that I disappointed and embarrassed you guys. To my younger brother, Ben, this is not the example that I want to set for you, but from here on out, I promise that I will be the best role model I can be for you to look up to.

I have been looking forward to being a UCLA Bruin since I was young. The alumni here have set such a high standard, both academically and athletically, and as a UCLA student-athlete, I'm disappointed in myself that I have failed to live up to that.

I can only hope that my actions, my words and my hard work in the weeks to come will prove to my coaches, my teammates and our fans that I am more than capable of meeting that high standard. Away from the court, I will work especially hard in the classroom to show that I can be an outstanding representative of this incredible university, a place that is so important to so many people around the world.

Again, thank you to everybody who has been there and has expressed concern for me and my safety this past week. I can assure you that I will never do anything again to jeopardize UCLA's reputation, as well as my own. Go Bruins. Thank you."

LiAngelo Ball
"I would like to start off by saying that I am sorry for stealing from the store in China. I didn't exercise my best judgment and was wrong for that. I apologize to my family, my coaches, my teammates and to UCLA for letting so many people down. I also apologize to the people of China, for causing them trouble.

I'm a young man, however, it's not an excuse for making a really stupid decision. I don't feel sorry for myself. I've learned my lesson from this big mistake and I'm 110 percent sure that I will not make a careless decision like this one again.

I would also like everyone to know that this does not define who I am. My family raised me better than that, and I'm going to make myself a better person from here on out. I have the utmost respect for the Chinese Police Department, and I'd like to thank them for treating me respectfully, even after I made a dumb choice.

I would also like to thank Chris Carlson and Doug Erickson for taking care of us and staying with us in China. I'm grateful for this UCLA team that stood strong beside us, making it possible for us to be sitting here in front of you today. I respect and admire all of the hard work that they put in to get us back to the United States. I would also like to thank President Trump and the United States government for the help that they provided.

I'm grateful to be back home, and I will never make a mistake like this again. I'm extremely sorry to those who I have let down. But I'm also very thankful for all of the help, the love and the support and take full responsibility for my actions. Thank you.

Jalen Hill
"First off, I would like to apologize to all the fans who support UCLA, because I feel like my actions have hurt them the most. It hurts me because I can see the pain that I've caused them. I apologize to my teammates, my coaches and my family because of how much negative attention that I have put on them that they do not deserve. I'm sorry for shoplifting. What I did was stupid. There's just no other way to put it. I am not that type of person.

I hope that this mistake will not define me as a person, but it shows that I have messed up and can learn from it. I don't want to be known for this dumb mistake. I want to be known for my respectfulness and my love and passion for the game of basketball. This event has taught me a lot, and it has changed me in a way that I can't explain.

I have so much more respect for the people around me – from our coaches and staff, to the fans who live for UCLA.

I have also strengthened my relationship with God throughout this tough time. Without Him, I would be nothing. To all the fans out there watching, I hope that you can forgive me. I hope that you can forgive my stupid, childish actions. I have learned my lesson and I hope that I can earn back the love and support that our passionate fans bring to this program.

I would like to thank everyone involved in this whole ordeal. Thank you to Chris, Doug, Gloria and Jerry for staying with us the whole time. Thank you to the police department, which treated us very well. Thank you to the Pac-12 and the whole UCLA community that helped us the whole way. And thank you to the United States government and President Trump for your efforts to help bring us home."

Head Men's Basketball Coach Steve Alford
"First of all, I want to acknowledge that there has been significant public and media interest in the situation in China, and I want to thank everyone here for respecting that we could not say much over the past week. Our priority throughout was making sure that Gelo, Jalen and Cody got home safely, and we were informed that anything we said during the process could have jeopardized a successful return to Los Angeles. We are grateful that they have safely returned home and have reconnected with their families, teammates and friends.

I can't thank enough the incredible folks here at UCLA, at the PAC-12 and even President Trump and his administration, for the non-stop efforts to resolve the situation. To say that our young men are incredibly fortunate to have this support system around them at UCLA is certainly an understatement. From the UCLA Office of Legal Affairs to Chancellor Block and Dan Guerrero; from our senior staff in Athletics to Chris Carlson, Doug Erickson, Duane Broussard and others on the ground with us in China, this has truly been a team effort—everyone focused on the best interests of our young men. I especially want to recognize Chris for an unbelievable commitment to our guys and Gloria Nevarez from the PAC-12, who was simply incredible throughout.

As a coach, you recruit these young men for a long time and you get to know them very well throughout the process. These are good young men who exercised an inexcusable lapse in judgment, and now they have to live with that. They let a lot of people down in the process. I'm extremely disappointed in their actions. You just heard them apologize. But I'd also like to apologize on their behalf — to the Chancellor, to Dan, and to the Bruin family. These young men are going to have to prove through their words and actions that this isn't who they are — and that they will not let their identity be defined by this incident.

I know Gelo, Cody and Jalen well, and I am confident that they have already begun to use this experience as a life lesson. They're going to have to regain the trust of this Athletic Department, of this University and – because this was such a high-profile, international matter – the trust of the general public. Trust is earned. It isn't simply given. These three young men will remain suspended indefinitely from our program as we work through the review process with the University's Office of Student Conduct. During that indefinite suspension, they will not travel with the team, nor will they suit up for home games. At some point, they may be permitted to join team workouts, practices and meetings, but that timeline is yet to be determined. They will have to earn their way back. They will cooperate fully with any University review of the matter, and will use this time to focus on their academics. My expectation is that they will work hard to demonstrate why they deserve to be part of this program.

I would like to express my gratitude to the other young men in our program, who represented UCLA the right way during our trip and who were able to put aside the distractions to travel, learn and enjoy a foreign country, while also defeating a very good Georgia Tech basketball team. The experience was memorable and the Chinese people were such gracious hosts everywhere that we went.

As the head coach of our program, I have a responsibility to move us forward and we will do just that by focusing on basketball and the young men suiting up tonight against Central Arkansas."

Director of Athletics Dan Guerrero
"As Steve mentioned, we are very disappointed in the conduct of our three student-athletes. On what should have been a positive, memorable trip for our entire team and for our university, their irresponsible actions overshadowed that opportunity. They have taken the first step here today, apologizing for the hurt and pain they have caused the UCLA community, and accepting full responsibility. In my meeting with them in Hangzhou, their expression of remorse, regret, sadness and embarrassment, was as genuine as it gets. They know they made a huge mistake and as you can see, they are deeply sorry for it. To echo Steve, it is my hope, that these three young men are not defined by this one instance, but rather by their efforts to restore our trust in them. Their actions in China are contrary to the true Bruin values of UCLA and UCLA Athletics, and, quite frankly, are unacceptable.

As the young men and Steve acknowledged, there were so many people at UCLA – both here in Westwood and in China – as well as at the PAC-12 Conference, who were instrumental in getting us through this challenging situation and let me just express our gratitude to everyone involved. I also want to add my sincere thanks to Chancellor Block for his resolute support throughout, as well as to acknowledge the efforts of President Trump and his administration, including White House Chief of Staff General Kelly, who took the time to call our students over the weekend. I also want to express my sincere apology to Alibaba and the Pac-12 conference, who worked collaboratively to make this incredible cultural exchange possible, the wonderful people of China, Georgia Tech, and our UCLA community for the disruption and the negative attention the students' actions brought upon this extraordinary trip.

I recognize that there are many questions yet to be answered about what transpired in China over the last nine days and I appreciate the media and the job that all of you have to do. My statement today will provide answers to some of the questions you may have, though likely, not all of them. With the students having just returned last night, we are continuing our review of certain aspects of the matter. Some fans, alumni and members of the media have wondered why we have remained silent during this situation. Essentially, as you might imagine, the sensitive nature of trying to bring our students home safely demanded that we stay silent.

Let me start by saying that prior to leaving the United States, and again while in China, Coach Alford met with the team and reminded all of them of the expectations and responsibilities that go along with representing UCLA. He and his staff did this as a means to be proactive in trying to prevent a negative situation of any kind.

On Monday, November 6th, the first full day of the trip, the group had a phenomenal experience visiting the Alibaba campus, where the team had the opportunity to tour the campus and to hear from Joe Tsai, the co-founder and executive vice chairman of the Alibaba group. Later that evening, the students were given 90 minutes of "free time" to explore the town of Hangzhou, or simply to relax. Gelo, Jalen and Cody used that time to visit several stores that were adjacent to the hotel. It was at this time that they took items from three of those stores, without paying for them. They then returned to the team hotel with those items.

The following morning, November 7th, police arrived at the team hotel and began to interview several members of both the Georgia Tech and UCLA basketball teams, as they attempted to identify which students were involved in the thefts. In addition to interviewing several students, police also searched bags both in the hotel and on the team bus. Within a few hours, they had identified Gelo, Jalen and Cody as the likely suspects, and escorted them to a local police station. Associate Head Coach Duane Broussard and PAC-12 Associate Commissioner for basketball Gloria Nevarez were able to go with them, while Steve Alford and Associate Athletic Director Chris Carlson followed shortly thereafter.

I was notified of the arrests by our UCLA personnel on the ground while I was mid-flight to Shanghai. The Chancellor, the UCLA Office of Legal Affairs, and other appropriate University personnel and UC administrators were quickly brought into the loop, and began to work on securing both legal counsel and information, which, at that time, was still sparse.

Following their arrests, the students remained in custody, undergoing questioning by police, before being released on bail early in the morning of November 8th. The total bail amount was approximately $2,200 U.S. As part of the conditions of their release, the students had to surrender their passports and agree to travel restrictions. They were NOT required to remain in the hotel, though we made that decision out of an abundance of caution and respect for the process. The bail in question has since been refunded by the Chinese authorities.

The UCLA Office of Legal Affairs, in concert with the PAC-12 Conference and legal experts based in China, worked to identify outside local counsel in Hangzhou to represent the three students. The University then requested and subsequently received authorization from the parents of the students to engage legal representation on their behalf.

Regarding the issue of the expenses that were incurred over the last nine days, UCLA provided the necessary resources to secure the timely release and safe return of the student-athletes. We now have the task of working to reconcile who is ultimately responsible for the costs incurred, in addition to addressing any NCAA implications.

When the rest of the team departed for Shanghai to continue the trip in preparation for the game, Chris Carlson and Gloria Nevarez stayed behind in Hangzhou with the three students.

Over the ensuing days, our staff and students fully cooperated with the local authorities, who were gracious throughout this entire process, in an attempt to resolve the matter. I made a visit to their hotel on Friday to check on everyone and to reassure the students that many people were working on their behalf and doing everything possible to allow them to return home. From those meetings, I was confident that the students were safe and being treated with the highest level of respect.

On Saturday, when the rest of the team and traveling party returned home, two UCLA administrative staff members, Chris Carlson and Doug Erickson, remained in China with the student-athletes. We left with the belief that substantial progress was being made to achieve a satisfactory outcome. To that end, on Tuesday in Shanghai, the local authorities confirmed that the student-athletes could leave the country. They did so at 9 p.m. Shanghai time/ 5 a.m. Pacific time on Tuesday and arrived at LAX last night around 5 p.m. Pacific Time.

While the charges against the students were ultimately withdrawn, Jalen, Cody and Gelo did admit to breaking the law. As Steve noted, the three student-athletes have been suspended indefinitely from the men's basketball program as we continue to review the matter, in collaboration with the University's Office of Student Conduct, as we do in all cases of student-athlete misconduct. We will work together and prudently to come to resolution on this matter.

I know there are still questions to be answered. It is my hope that in the coming weeks, as we learn more, we will be able to share additional information with all of you.

As difficult as this time period has been for all of us who love UCLA so dearly, I am confident in the resiliency of the UCLA community and the Bruin Family, and we will move forward, together. Thank you."

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UCLA Men's Basketball Addresses the Media

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UCLA Men's Basketball Addresses the Media

Players Mentioned

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Cody Riley

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