Mick Cronin candidly spoke about the UCLA Bruins’ Tuesday loss against Illinois. The head coach acknowledged his team’s defensive struggles, mainly when the Fighting Illinois overwhelmed them early in the game.
The Bruins were temporarily paralyzed in the first two quarters and were down by 16 at one point. Despite narrowing the lead back to two by the final quarter, they failed to achieve victory as their opponents made shots with minutes left in the game, ending UCLA’s seven-game winning streak.
In the post-game interview, Mick Cronin first shared his dismay with the officials’ decisions at the match’s final moments. However, he also recognized his team’s defense flaws in their consequential loss.
“Got back in it. Bas (Mack) missed a good attempt to cut it to four at half. If he gets that to go — they could have called a foul. I mean, they called every foul on us jumping into guys. They could have easily called a foul on the last play of the first half,” Cronin said.
“But the story of the game is defensively, we got exposed. Our inability to guard the perimeter by some guys and their ability to spread you out because [Tomislav] Ivisic can shoot the ball and then, we finally settled down to probe and pass and got our offense going and found a team.”
Despite the Bruins’ loss, their junior Tyler Bilodeau scored 25 points with seven three-pointers, a considerable factor in their near comeback. Kobe Johnson supported him with 14 points and four rebounds.
Mick Cronin’s team, 18-7, will face the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday.
Mick Cronin criticized his team after their loss against Michigan last month, called them “delusional”
Mick Cronin never shies away from attacking his team, the UCLA Bruins. When the Bruins suffered a heavy 75-94 loss to Michigan last January, Cronin called his players names in the post-game interview, ensuring he candidly expressed his disappointment on their poor performance.
“It’s really hard to coach people that are delusional,” Cronin said.
“The hungry dog gets the bone. We got guys who think they’re way better than they are. They’re nice kids. They’re completely delusional about who they are and the team whose mind is on the right stuff and hungry to get a win in conference play is the team that’s probably going to win.”
Mick Cronin’s words, though controversial then, ultimately drove the Bruins to a seven-game winning streak, defeating three ranked teams, before their loss against the Illinois Fighting Illini last Tuesday.
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