UCLA can’t hold off Minnesota, which denies Mick Cronin his 500th win
LOS ANGELES — Hep Cronin, the father of UCLA men’s basketball head coach Mick Cronin, told the Southern California News Group that a post-game party was in store if the Bruins won Tuesday night to honor Mick’s 500th career win. Mick’s friend, Mark, printed 100-plus shirts with Cronin’s face on it, Hep joked 30 minutes before tip-off. Hep, who is 83, had come all the way from Cincinnati, enduring a four-hour flight delay.
“Hopefully,” Hep said, “he won’t mess this up.”
Well, if that’s not a jinx, what is?
Minnesota crashed the Cronins’ party. The Golden Gophers trailed for 39 minutes, but the Bruins couldn’t shake them, and then the inevitable happened.
In the final 1:30, Tyler Bilodeau and Eric Dailey Jr. each missed a pair of free throws and Sebastian Mack committed a player control foul, while Lu’Cye Patterson scored two layups – including the decisive one with eight seconds left – and Dawson Garcia knocked down two free throws to lift Minnesota to a 64-61 upset over UCLA.
A crowd consisting of UCLA greats Baron Davis, Jaylen Clark, Dave Singleton and more ready to celebrate Cronin were instead left moaning with each missed free throw (the Bruins missed their last six attempts of the game and 10 of 15 in the second half).
“Our crowd’s mind is on the wrong stuff,” Cronin said, vocally mimicking the groans that echoed throughout Pauley Pavilion during his post-game press conference. “They make it worse.”
“Everybody’s worried about the wrong stuff.”
Because it can’t be missed free throws alone that explain how UCLA (19-8 overall, 10-6 Big Ten), a team Cronin said that he’s “building for March,” fell apart against Minnesota (14-12, 6-9), a team clawing for a spot in the Big Ten Tournament.
“I watched (Minnesota’s) spirit,” Cronin said. “Their entire starting five’s career could be over in two weeks and they’re playing like it. I told the guys that for a couple of days.”
Instead of gleaning that message, Cronin said, his players are so concerned with their volume of shots that they neglect defense.
The Bruins led 29-12 with 5:30 left in the first half and blew it. They shot 9 for 19 from the free-throw line overall, lost the rebound battle and let Big Ten leading scorer Dawson Garcia torch them.
After scoring just five points in the first half, Garcia finished with a season-high 32, and grabbed eight rebounds.
“We’re so poorly coached, we didn’t know Dawson Garcia was going to spin back to his left hand,” Cronin said, his voice tinged with sarcasm. “We had two guys on him and let him lay it in. So I guess we didn’t go over it.”
Cronin’s displeasure for his team’s lack of scouting-report adherence and defensive effort completely trumped his feeling toward the missed free throws or sluggish offense.
Bilodeau and Kobe Johnson each had 12 points to lead the Bruins.
In the first half, the Bruins flooded driving lanes and hounded the Golden Gophers with various full-court pressures, taking a 34-23 advantage into the break. In the second half they traded anticipation for overzealousness.
“I don’t know what was in our system,” Johnson said. “We played terrible on defense, gave away too many baskets that we shouldn’t have, you know, just not being in the right spots. Gotta be better at following the game-plan.”
As they conceded baskets, they forfeited transition offense opportunities.
A rock fight ensued. Forced to play a half-court game, UCLA’s offensive actions looked disjointed. Dylan Andrews sailed a pass over Bilodeau’s head, Aday Mara threw one right to Golden Gophers guard Femi Odukale. Dailey forced shot after shot as he missed his first six attempts.
Mack tried to dig UCLA out of its haze with bull-dozing drives that earned him trips to the free-throw line, but he missed three in a row.
With 8:53 left, Johnson hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to break a Bruins’ field-goal drought that had lasted three minutes. Dailey, then, awoke from his malaise, scoring seven of the Bruins next nine points to restore a 55-47 advantage.
Garcia answered, scoring nine straight for the Golden Gophers in the final five minutes as the Bruins continuously bricked free throws. After Patterson’s late go-ahead layup, Mack was called for a charge trying to drive the lane with 1.3 seconds remaining. Garcia’s two foul shots with 0.9 seconds left sealed it.
“Even if we’d have won this game,” Cronin said, “I’m trying to build a team that has a chance in the NCAA Tournament, and it’s just really disappointing that our guys are worried about the wrong things. It’s a losing mentality to worry about whether your shot goes in, or how many points you score. So I failed miserably.”
“If I say anything,” he added, “then I throw players under the bus. So here’s what I’ll say: ‘We didn’t play well. We’re poorly coached.’”
Cronin’s 499 wins might indicate otherwise.
But, if the Bruins want to win in March as Cronin thinks this group can, then, like he said, their minds have to be on the right things. That means worrying about a whole lot more than earning Cronin’s 500th win on Sunday against Ohio State.
UP NEXT
UCLA hosts Ohio State on Sunday at 12:45 p.m.