Jalen Hill Cause Of Death: How Did Jalen Hill Die?

Former UCLA forward Jalen Hill has died at the age of 22.

The former basketball player’s death was confirmed by the school early Wednesday morning.

UCLA coach Mick Cronin said in a statement that Hill’s death is “heartbreaking” and cited the former Bruins forward “was a warm-hearted young man with a great smile who has left us far too soon.”

Hill’s family wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday that he died after going missing in Costa Rica, but did not reveal further details.

“We know Jalen has played a part in the lives of so many people,” the family’s Instagram post read. “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. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.”

Josh Giles, Hill’s former head coach at Centennial High School in Corona, California, told the Los Angeles Times that Hill was “a great basketball player, but I just loved him as a person.”

“I’m so stunned I don’t even have an emotion right now,” said Giles, who also told the Times that he has been in contact with Hill’s family. “To hear something like this is next-level devastating.”

Jalen Hill was a 247Sports 4-star prospect coming out of Corona Centennial High School in 2017. He committed to UCLA in 2015, two years before graduating high school.

Listed at 6-foot-10, Hill played parts of three seasons at UCLA before retiring after the 2020-21 season, citing “anxiety, depression and feeling pressure “trying to live up to somebody’s perception of how my life should be instead of just being who I am,” in an Instagram video announcing his decision. He left the team in February 2021 but did not address his status until April, saying he did not want to distract from the Bruins’ run to the Final Four.

As one of the three UCLA players arrested in China following shoplifting charges in November 2017, Hill was suspended for the 2017-18 season but returned to the program the next season and appeared in 77 games during his career with the Bruins, averaging 6.5 points and 6.4 rebounds.