Eric Dailey Jr. leads UCLA to greatness with his energy and his voice

LOS ANGELES - Eric Dailey Jr. was UCLA’s hero Friday night against UCF in Round One of the NCAA Tournament, leading the Bruins with 20 points, 12 of which came in the first half as he provided a spark for a UCLA team that started the game lifeless with star senior forward Tyler Bilodeau out.

It’s not the first time Dailey Jr. has been a leader for his team. 

Throughout this season, whenever UCLA needed someone to bring the energy or bark on the court, Dailey Jr. was there. The junior forward is in his second season with the Bruins and even though he needed to find more confidence to be a leader on the court, the familiarity he has with the team now helps him be more effective when he starts talking. 

“I think I’ve been the same, honestly, these past two years. I think I’ve been vocal… I’ve always been talking. I’ve been talking since a kid,” Dailey Jr. said. “I think I’ve been this vocal leader, but being with the same guys for two years, I can lead differently. I’ve been touching guys differently. Reaching out to them and putting people in different mind spaces.”

Bringing energy 

He’ll direct traffic on the court, lift up his teammates or just speed up the tempo if he thinks it’s lagging. Many huge wins for the Bruins this season have featured run that was either started with or set with an exclamation point by a Dailey Jr. fast break dunk. 

“He brings a lot of energy when we need it,” Bilodeau said of Dailey Jr.  

“E-Day’s been a big piece for us these last two years, especially this year," senior guard Skyy Clark added. "He’s really like our vocal piece and it gets us going with the energy and everything. Just having him on the team is infectious."

The most impactful example of Dailey Jr.’s leadership has been his relationship with sophomore guard Trent Perry. The pair came to UCLA at the same time, Perry as a freshman and Dailey Jr. as a sophomore transfer from Oklahoma State. 

From there, they formed a relationship that Perry has described as brotherly and he’s leaned on Dailey Jr. to get him through some hard times this season, such as the low place he was in after a disappointing performance against Minnesota. 

Perry said that he started facing hate comments and threats after the Minnesota loss and he turned to Dailey Jr. to guide him through it.

“That’s actually something I’ve never faced in my career. I have Eric Dailey [Jr.] to help me out. I told him,” Perry said. “Even though you’re not supposed to look at the comments, it’s there. Those types of threats on my Instagram and on Twitter [X]... I’m just fortunate enough to have these types of guys to have my back.”

Rage bait with love 

The brotherly affection Perry and Dailey Jr. isn’t just in times of support. 

Dailey Jr. pushes some light-hearted ribbing, something he calls ragebait, that keeps things light in the locker room, but also helps steel the team against actual criticism and keep their mindset up. 

Naturally, Dailey Jr. has found that Perry has been the easiest to ragebait, but that both of them know it comes from a place of love. 

“He’s just like my little brother, he already knows what it is. It’s love always. It’s definitely been helping him this season. That’s been part of his toughness as well," Dailey Jr. said of Perry. "He’s definitely been a much [more] well-rounded guy. He can control his emotions better now this year... He’s been having a great season, so I guess my methods are working.”

Cronin sees the hard work

When it comes to head coach Mick Cronin’s interpretation of Dailey Jr.'s leadership, he doesn’t point to his vocality, but rather his willingness to lead by example and the way that his work sets the tone for the rest of the team. 

Cronin described Dailey Jr. as someone who “devours” practice and even on light days for the team, he’s looking for more work after the fact. For a UCLA team that Cronin has decried for a lack of effort or intensity at times, a mentality like that becomes a major asset.

“Eric’s got a skill that’s very, very underrated that every NBA team’s looking for. He shows up everyday for work ready to give 100% max effort. Very few guys can do it,” Cronin said of his forward. “It’s good to have guys like that because it brings other guys along like,’Hey, you’ve got to put more time in. You’ve got to work harder.’ It is a vastly, vastly underrated skill.”

His leadership and intensity make him an ideal fit for the system and the culture that Cronin promotes and with his senior year ahead of him, Dailey Jr. will be relied on even more as one of, if not the, main vocal figure on the team. 

“Whatever I can do for the team, that’s what I’m gonna do,” Dailey Jr. said after UCLA’s comeback win over Illinois. “If I have to talk, get on guys and talk on defense, whatever I’ve got to do to make sure we’re going at high intensity and at a high level, that’s what I’m here to do.”