UCLA men’s basketball coach Mick Cronin minced no words after the Bruins suffered their second consecutive loss in Big Ten conference play. The No. 24 Michigan Wolverines defeated No. 22 UCLA 94-75 on Tuesday night at Pauley Pavilion.
“We’re soft… Every day, I have more passion and energy in practice than anybody else. I’m tired of it. It’s a joke… The truth of it is, it’s really hard to coach guys who are delusional,” said Cronin.
An emotional Cronin expressed his frustrations after Vladislav Goldin led the Wolverines with a career-high 36 points on 13-for-18 shooting.
Michigan (12-3, 4-0 Big Ten) earned its first win at Pauley Pavilion since 2002 and has now won four consecutive games after earning an 85-74 win over USC on Saturday, sweeping their west coast trip.
Tre Donaldson finished with 20 points and seven assists, converting six three-pointers and Nimari Burnett added 17 points for the Wolverines, who made 15 threes on the night.
“I mean, you enjoy it, but we come out here for a reason, to send a message to the Big Ten and get some big wins,” Donaldson said.
Tyler Bilodeau and Sebastian Mack each scored 17 points apiece for UCLA (11-4, 2-2) but the team struggled again from the free throw line, shooting 67 percent on 23 for 34 attempts.
Eric Dailey Jr. had 13 points and Kobe Johnson added 12 points for the Bruins.
Skyy Clark and Dylan Andrews combined for only eight points and five assists as the Bruins starting backcourt struggled to find any momentum.
“You play the guys that will play hard and do what you tell them. Right now, I am searching deeply for some guys who will play hard enough to win a Big Ten game,” Cronin said.
Michigan started the game on a 13-2 run that was capped by a Goldin dunk less than six minutes into the game and UCLA proceeded to trail 47-37 at halftime. The Bruins did not make a three in the first half and shot 2 for 20 for the game from three-point distance.
“Our last three halves of defense, we gave up 42, 47, and 47 points. That’s not going to cut it,” Cronin said. “The truth is, we can’t score enough, especially when we’re shooting the ball from the three (2-20) and from the foul line, we missed eleven free throws.”
UCLA showed some early fight to start the second half, using a 15-4 run to take its first lead of the game, 52-51, with 14:17 to play after a Dailey Jr layup.
Dailey Jr. extended the Bruins lead to 55-51 after converting a three-point play on an and-one layup on the next possession.
However, the Wolverines quickly responded by making four threes during a 19-7 run while retaking a 70-62 advantage.
“We showed a lot of resolve. When the fight came, we didn’t give in. I like the way our team responded. I thought we played well,” Michigan coach Dusty May said.
Donaldson made two more three-pointers to give Michigan a 76-64 lead with 7:23 left in the second half. The Bruins were unable to get any closer than nine points to the Wolverines.
“We just have to keep having toughness. We came back a little bit in the second half, but we just had to keep doing the things that got us there. Toughness is a real thing,” said Eric Dailey Jr.
UCLA will next travel to take on Maryland (11-4, 1-3) on Friday at 5:00 p.m.
