Parker joined
Shabazz Muhammad,
Kyle Anderson and
Jordan Adams in a UCLA recruiting class considered the best in the nation. The four all knew each other from competing in
Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). Muhammad and Anderson were also McDonald's All-Americans. Parker's former AAU coach with the Atlanta Celtics, Korey McCray, had joined UCLA the previous year as an assistant coach; He was the team's only big body with an inside presence after Anthony Stover was dismissed from the team and
Joshua Smith transferred mid-season. However, Coach
Ben Howland rarely played Parker off the bench, relying instead on twins
David and
Travis Wear, who were primarily
jump shooters as opposed to
post players. Parker became so unhappy he considered transferring. He finished the season averaging a
Pac-12 Conference-worst 10.4 fouls per 40 minutes, On January 23, 2014, he scored a then-career-high 22 points on 9 of 14 shooting in a 91–74 win over
Stanford. His averages improved in his sophomore year to 6.9 points and 4.4 rebounds. He finally became a starter in
2014–15, Parker showed improvement on offense with his post moves, He ranked sixth in the Pac-12 in
field goal percentage (54.3). Alford called him the team's most important player. When Parker missed the road trip to the Oregon schools, UCLA went 0–2 and lost by a combined 29 points. He returned against
Utah, when the Bruins earned their best win of the season as Parker's inside play balanced their offense that had become overly dependent on their perimeter players. On March 21, 2015, in the
2015 NCAA tournament, Parker scored a career-high 28 points and added 12 rebounds in a 92–75 win over
UAB, helping the Bruins advance to the Sweet 16 for the second straight year. Parker returned as the Bruins' lone senior in
2015–16, but the team did not advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in his career. Parker was named to the initial watch list of twenty candidates for the
Karl Malone Award, given annually to the top
power forward in
Division I men's basketball. In the season opener, he scored 19 points and established career highs of 19 rebounds, nine
offensive rebounds, and four
assists in an 84–81 loss to
Monmouth. The Bruins began the season 9–4 with Parker logging seven double-doubles in those 13 games. However, he had just two double-doubles in the final 19 games, when UCLA lost 13 times to finish with a 15–17 record. who was averaging 13.5 points and 9.6 rebounds as a starter. While Bolden was taller than Parker, he was also lighter. The switch helped UCLA win 83–50 for their largest margin of victory of the season; Parker scored 11 points in 18 minutes, which was 10 minutes below his average. After five games as a reserve, Parker returned to the starting lineup in place of Welsh, who had presented the coaches with the idea. The Bruins played their best game in weeks, winning 77–53 over
Colorado, but they lost their final five games of the season. Parker finished the season with averages of 12.6 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 25.1 minutes per game. He ranked eighth in the Pac-12 in rebounding, first in offensive rebounds per game (3.3), and ninth in field goal percentage (53.9). He ended his four-year career having played 136 games, which ranked sixth in UCLA history. ==Professional career==