EUGENE, Ore. — UCLA forward Jalen Hill could see it in the body language on display outside Matthew Knight Arena. It was everywhere he looked, in the downed heads, slumped shoulders, grim faces.
It was one thing for players who modeled their games after Kobe Bryant to be shattered by news of the Lakers legend’s sudden death Sunday morning, but observing the devastation in fans outside the building made Hill realize just how deeply Bryant had impacted the basketball world.
“You could tell it was just a different aura, a different vibe around the whole stadium,” Hill said after the Bruins lost to No. 12 Oregon, 97-75. “That’s monumental, like Kobe Bryant had that affect on everybody; everybody looked up to him. It’s disbelief, really. It’s really sad.”
All Hill had to do to remind himself of Bryant’s impact on his life was to look down at his jersey. Hill picked No. 24 in honor of the player whose dogged approach he wanted to replicate.
“That’s why I wear 24 here, because of him,” Hill said after scoring 16 points on five-for-seven shooting to go with eight rebounds, two steals, two assists and one block. “Not because of him as a player but just his mentality and I try to carry that into my game.”
Hill said the Bruins learned individually of Bryant’s death from a helicopter crash alongside his daughter Gianna and several other passengers. Eventually, they talked about it as a team.
“It’s tough,” Hill said. “I mean, people deal with grief differently. I just wanted to go out and play as hard as I could. A lot of people looked up to him and it’s sad and the basketball world is going to feel that for a long time.”
UCLA coach Mick Cronin had a Bryant connection, having coached him in 1996 when Bryant was a prep phenom participating in Magic’s Roundball Classic, an all-star game involving some of the nation’s top players. It was the final appearance at the high school level for both the coach and player; Cronin would embark on his college career as a Cincinnati assistant and Bryant would soon be drafted by the Charlotte Hornets and traded to the Lakers.
“Every day is not promised,” Cronin said. “Tomorrow is not promised. I think the whole basketball world is shook up right now and doesn’t know what to say.”
The news hit Cronin especially hard because like Bryant, he has a teenage daughter.
“It’s just unbelievable,” Cronin said.
Oregon paid homage to Bryant before the game with a scoreboard video tribute. One Ducks fan seated in the student section wore a No. 24 Bryant jersey.
Former UCLA point guard Earl Watson suggested on Twitter that the Bruins should hang both of Bryant’s jersey numbers, 8 and 24, in the rafters at Pauley Pavilion as thanks for his contributions to the program.
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A Lakers fan sobs at a memorial for Kobe Bryant outside the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans (from left) Alex Fultz, Eddy Rivas and Rene Alfaro gather with others near a makeshift memorial for Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center on Sunday after learning of his death. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Martin Yan, 35, of Diamond Bar stands beside of a mural depicting Kobe Bryant on Lebanon Street northeast of Staples Center. Fans are flocking to the area and having photos taken with the mural. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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The investigation continues Tuesday at the crash site in Calabasas where a helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others crashed, killing all aboard. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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The pilot was identified by colleagues as Ara Zobayan, 50, of Huntington Beach. (Bernadette McKeever)
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The Sikorsky S-76B helicopter (N72EX) that crashed in Calabasas. (Geraldine Petrovic / Polaris)
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A tribute to Kobe Bryant is projected on the Los Angeles Times building. (Los Angeles Times)
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A couple pay their respects at a memorial at home plate in honor of Orange Coast College head baseball coach John Altobelli, who perished with wife Keri, and daughter, Alyssa, in Sunday’s helicopter crash with Kobe Bryant. (Don Leach / Daily Pilot)
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Uziel Colon takes a photo of his wife, Maria Home, and daughter Lena with a mural created to honor Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna. The mural is by Art Gozukuchikyan on the side of VEM Exotic Rentals on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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People pay tribute to Kobe Bryant outside the gated community in Newport Coast where his family lives. (Don Leach / Los Angeles Times)
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Kinzo Beachem writes on the cement next to a makeshift memorial for former Lakers player Kobe Bryant at L.A. Live plaza in front of Staples Center. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans gather outside Staples Center in Los Angeles to mourn the death of Kobe Bryant after news spread that Bryant and his daughter Gianna were among the nine killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Emergency responders cover remains at the site of the helicopter crash that killed nine people including Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna on Sunday in Calabasas. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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From left, Christopher Pena, 33, and his wife Lizbeth, 30, of Pacoima, mourn with Jose Gutierrez, 33, of La Puente, near the site of the Calabasas helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Nancy Fernandez of Van Nuys lights a candle at a memorial for Kobe Bryant at De Anza Park in Calabasas on Sunday. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans mourn near Staples Center after learning that Lakers great Kobe Bryant had died. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Mourners huddle at L.A. Live, across from Staples Center, site of the home court of Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A woman kneels at the makeshift memorial to Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center in Los Angeles. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A man kisses the ground as Lakers fans gather at a memorial to Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans gather around a makeshift memorial to Kobe Bryant at L.A. Live on Sunday evening. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Naima Smith, 37, and Swania Hogue, 48, both of Los Angeles, mourn the loss of Kobe Bryant at a vigil in Leimert Park on Sunday. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans gather near a makeshift memorial for Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center after learning of the Lakers legend’s death Sunday. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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A Lakers fan touches a memorial for Kobe Bryant outside the Lakers practice facility in El Segundo on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Mourners gather at the corner of Las Virgenes Road and Willow Glen Street in Calabasas near the site of the helicopter crash. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Naima Smith, 37, lays flowers at a makeshift memorial during a vigil for Kobe Bryant in Leimert Park on Sunday. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans stand near a memorial for Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center on Sunday after learning of his death in a helicopter crash in Calabasas. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Naima Smith, 37, center, and other fans mourn the death of Kobe Bryant at a vigil in Leimert Park on Sunday. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans stand near a makeshift memorial for Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center on Sunday after learning of his death in a helicopter crash in Calabasas. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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A screen at L.A. Live on Sunday displays an image of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant following his death in a helicopter crash in Calabasas. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans gather near a makeshift memorial for Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center after learning of the Lakers legend’s death Sunday. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
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Fans gather near a makeshift memorial for Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center after learning of the Lakers legend’s death Sunday. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans gather near a makeshift memorial for Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center after learning of the Lakers legend’s death Sunday. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans gather near a makeshift memorial for Kobe Bryant outside Staples Center after learning of the Lakers legend’s death Sunday. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Bryant Hirshman is hugged by his father, Craig, and mother, Elena, near the helicopter crash site in Calabasas that claimed the lives of Kobe Bryant, his daughter, Gianna, and seven others Sunday. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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People gather on Las Virgenes Road in Calabasas near the site of a helicopter crash that claimed the lives of Kobe Bryant, his daughter, Gianna, and seven others Sunday. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Amanda Gordon and her husband, Philip, mourn the death of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant near the site of a helicopter crash Calabasas that claimed the lives of the Lakers legend, his daughter, Gianna, and seven others Sunday. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Jianing Zhang, right, and his girlfriend Cathy Xiao gather with others near the helicopter crash site in Calabasas that claimed the lives of Kobe Bryant, his daughter, Gianna, and seven others Sunday. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Large Kobe Bryant memorial signs are illuminated at L.A. Live as fans Aldo Luna and his son Ethan of Pomona gather with others paying their respects outside Staples Center. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Lakers fans mourn the death of Kobe Bryant at a makeshift memorial. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans post sticky notes paying tribute to Kobe Bryant on a mural of the former NBA superstar outside Shoe Palace on Melrose Avenue in L.A. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans gather at a makeshift memorial outside Staples Center to mourn Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans gather outside Staples Center at a makeshift memorial to Kobe Bryant. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Kobe Bryant’s No. 8 and No. 24 Lakers jerseys hang in the rafters at Staples Center during preparations for the Grammy Awards on Sunday night. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“Without Kobe’s presence on campus during the summers/off-seasons most of [UCLA’s] success & recruits would have been obsolete!” Watson wrote. “Yes coach [John] Wooden was impactful but we came to compete against Kobe in the summers! Pay homage.”
UCLA guard Jake Kyman said the Bruins had to push their sadness aside to play the Ducks, something Kyman largely succeeded at while making seven of 11 shots and finishing with 20 points.
“I’ve always been watching him and trying to model my game after him with midrange and just shooting and everything, so it really took a hard toll with me,” Kyman said. “He’s my favorite player; I think he’s the GOAT. So it was a struggle, but I had to get my mind in the right headspace for the game and then think about it later.”
