When UCLA basketball coach Mick Cronin attended Harvard-Westlake High School basketball games a season ago, he got to witness the talent he missed out on in Trent Perry.

“I realized [at the Harvard-Westlake games he attended], I wished we signed this guy,” Cronin told reporters Wednesday.

Perry had instead committed and signed his letter of intent with USC in fall 2023, planning to join the Trojans for the upcoming 2024-25 season. Not only did Cronin see a local player who chose another school over UCLA at those games, but one who went to UCLA’s biggest rival.

Unexpectedly, Perry’s plans took a turn when former USC basketball head coach Andy Enfield departed for SMU. The Trojans quickly hired Eric Musselman to replace Enfield, but Perry opted to de-commit since he originally committed to Enfield’s program.

Cronin said Wednesday that when he heard the news of Perry’s de-commitment from USC, his reaction was “We’ve got to get him.” He recounted that he called Harvard-Westlake coach Dave Rebibo shortly after to arrange for a meeting with Perry and his parents to see if he had an interest in joining UCLA.

Cronin was successful in his courting of Perry, who ended up committing to UCLA in May, a little over a month after he de-committed from USC.

Perry is the top freshman for a Bruins program that prioritized adding through the transfer portal over the offseason. During his time with Harvard-Westlake, Perry averaged 18.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game as a senior. He won the Gatorade Player of the Year, was a McDonald’s All-American, and two-time Mission League MVP. ESPN ranked Perry as the No. 28 overall prospect and No. 5 point guard in his class.

Perhaps more important than Perry’s talent is his desire to win matches that of Cronin, which the program needs after a disappointing 16-17 campaign a season ago.

Perry joins a program that also added transfers in Skyy Clark, Dominick Harris, Tyler Bilodeau, Eric Dailey Jr., Kobe Johnson, and William Kyle III.

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