Michigan basketball traveled to LA on Tuesday night in a BIG10 face off against UCLA, the mighty mighty Bruins. Michigan took a double digit lead early and even though UCLA would show some fight, Michigan would win by 19, 94-75.
Head coach of UCLA Mick Cronin is known for hard nose, defensive basketball. So to see anybody put up north of 90 on his team was a shock. Post game Cronin had some choice, yet, wise words for his team via the media.
When asked about the state of the team after losing two games in a row, Cronin said,
“…We’re soft! So don’t tell me you wanna win, so just don’t tell me you wanna win. It’s crazy you know, and it’s everyday I’m tired of it. I have the most energy of anybody at practice. I’m upset with everybody in that locker room, my assistant coaches and my players. It’s a joke, I mean it’s a joke, and I come in and I have more passion, and energy, and pride than everybody else and that’s the problem.”
Mick Cronin has been an elite coach in this game for a long time starting his head coaching career in 2003 at Murray State. Cronin is honing in on 500 wins, a monumental milestone for any head coach to achieve.
Cronin would continue to speak his mind on the state of his players and team by stating,
“…It’s really hard to coach people who are delusional. The hungry dog gets the bone! We got guys that think they’re way better than they are. They’re nice kids, they’re completely delusional about who they are.”
UCLA came into this week 11-2 and 2-0 in conference play with huge wins over Oregon, Gonzaga, Arizona, and Washington. Yet after losing 3 out of the last 4, the lost to Michigan was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Mick Cronin articulated my thoughts on today’s game beautifully and there is no doubt his players will respond positively as the Bruins look to bounce back on Friday night against Maryland.
Michigan on the other hand has had a breath of fresh air this season under first year coach Dusty May. After going 8-24 last season under Juwan Howard the Wolverines have already won more conference basketball games than all of last season.
Michigan is 4-0 in BIG10 this season after going 3-17 last season. The Wolverines are 12-3 overall and those three losses are by a combine 5 points. No loss has been more than 2 points.
Michigan will look to continue rolling this Sunday against Washington.
Photo Curtesy of @nypostsports on X
Rowan Donaghey, Sports Reporter and Betting Analyst for Stare Down Sports. You can follow him on the X via @RowanDonaghey
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