Aaron Holiday and Thomas Welsh are returning to UCLA

Aaron Holiday and Thomas Welsh are returning to UCLA, the school’s athletic department confirmed Tuesday.

Without the sophomore guard and junior center, UCLA would have lost 98.9 percent of its scoring from last season. Their return means the Bruins are losing 73.2 percent of their scoring and gaining the the No. 2 recruiting class in the country, which includes two McDonald’s All-Americans.

READ: Thomas Welsh, Aaron Holiday choose UCLA over NBA

Welsh and Holiday were two of five UCLA underclassmen to declare for the NBA draft in April. Freshmen Lonzo Ball, TJ Leaf and Ike Anigbogu also declared and have each hired agents, sealing their departure from UCLA. The Bruins also graduated senior starters Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton, meaning they would have lost their top seven scorers had Welsh and Holiday remained in the draft.

Instead, UCLA retains its 7-foot starting center, the team’s leading rebounder last season. Holiday is now the team’s top returning scorer, and a much needed body in a thin backcourt that figures to receive heavy contrubutions from incoming freshman Jaylen Hands and redshirt sophomore Prince Ali, who missed all of last season with a knee injury.

Welsh averaged 10.8 points and 8.7 rebounds per game last season, which ranked sixth and first, respectively, on the highest-scoring team in college basketball. Holiday, who started as a freshman, came off the bench as a sophomore when he averaged 12.4 points and 4.4 assists in 26 minutes per game.