UCLA coach Mick Cronin added another couple of highlights to a growing reel of snappy remarks and antics on Tuesday night during and after the Bruins’ 82-59 loss at No. 15 Michigan State.
First, Cronin sent one of his own players to the locker room with 4:26 remaining following a flagrant 1 foul. Then, after the game, he got into a bizarrely terse exchange with a reporter over a benign question.
Both situations underscored the angst surrounding UCLA basketball entering the season’s stretch run. As a No. 10 seed in the CBS Sports Bracketology model, the Bruins have lost three of their past five games and are backing up to the cut line for the field of 68.
Cronin is wearing the stress of another unspectacular season on his sleeve. The first situation arose with UCLA trailing 77-48 with under five minutes remaining, when Bruins reserve center Steven Jamerson II committed a hard foul on Michigan State’s Carson Cooper as Cooper elevated for a transition dunk.
The foul was called a flagrant, but it was not a “flagrant 2” foul, which would warrant an ejection. Nonetheless, Cronin demonstrably ushered Jamerson into the locker room.
Afterward, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said, “that’s the first time I saw coach do it, but that sounds like Mick.”
Odd media exchange
Cronin’s next act after booting Jamerson was to snap at a reporter who was attempting to ask Cronin about chants from Michigan State’s student section directed at UCLA center and former Spartans center Xavier Booker.
“I could give a rat’s ass about the other the other team’s student section,” Cronin said.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
“I would like to give you a kudos for the worst question I’ve ever been asked,” Cronin continued. “You really think I care about the other team’s student section?”
Cronin, who is in his seventh season coaching the Bruins, kept going from there. “Are you raising your voice at me?” he asked the reporter.”
Mick Cronin’s reputation
Rants, humorous comments, bluntness and the outward expression of frustration from Cronin are nothing new. Last season, he ripped his players as “soft” and “delusional” during a January low point of a 23-11 season.
He regularly lambasts the Big Ten for UCLA’s schedule, which features a handful of cross-country trips each year and the inevitable logistical challenges that come with it.
One of his headline-grabbing remarks from last week was that he wants to find the “biggest, nastiest, vodka-drinking Eastern European” for his team.
Viewed in a certain light, Cronin is a funny character who is unafraid to speak his mind. But for UCLA fans growing fatigued of diminishing on-court returns, it might get old.
UCLA’s stretch run
UCLA returns home to host No. 10 Illinois on Saturday as it enters a pivotal stretch of basketball for its NCAA Tournament hopes. The Bruins (17-9, 9-6 Big Ten) began the season ranked No. 12 in the preseason AP poll but came away from nonconference play with no significant victories.
The Bruins’ only win over a team expected to make the NCAA Tournament field as an at-large team came Jan. 20 against Purdue. But things started to get dicey on Jan. 31 with a 98-97 double-overtime home loss against Indiana.
Cronin was pointed in his postgame assessment following the IU loss, saying “our defense was awful all night” and calling out his team for “pouting.”
Still, UCLA began its two-game road swing through the Big Ten’s pair of Michigan programs at 17-7 (9-4) and with a little bit of breathing room on the bubble.
After back-to-back losses to Michigan and Michigan State by 30 and 23 points, respectively, that breathing room is evaporating quick, and Cronin appears to know it.
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