Mick Cronin calls out UCLA fans after loss: 'They make it worse'

Minnesota took its first trip out West in the new-look Big Ten, coming away with two big wins. The latter was against UCLA and head coach Mick Cronin has not been too happy about the result. Cronin has expressed frustration with himself, the players, and now, the UCLA home crowd.

A lot of emphasis was put on the poor free-throw shooting night the Bruins had. Cronin believes his players were focused on missed shots instead of other important aspects of the game, like playing defense.

The crowd certainly grew frustrated as the game wore on. But hearing groans coming from the arena does not help in Cronin’s opinion. He wished the UCLA faithful would instead support and even encourage the players.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Cronin said. “I know when my team’s mind is on the wrong stuff. Our crowd’s mind is on the wrong stuff. They make it worse when a guy misses a free throw. The stress in Pauley (Pavillion) is crazy when you a guy — how about help the guy? Cheer for the guy? It’s not like he’s trying to miss the free throw. That just makes it worse, everybody is worried about the wrong stuff.”

UCLA lost by three points to Minnesota and missed 10 free throws. Making just a few of those would have swung the result in UCLA’s favor, avoiding this whole mess. Cornin likely would still have not been happy with the mentality but better to go over issues after a win instead of a loss.

There were bigger issues than just missed free throws, though. Poor defense appeared to be at the top of Cronin’s mind, wanting a better effort. The same could not be said about the players out there in the game’s biggest moments.

“We’re worried about the wrong things,” Cronin said. “Shouldn’t be worried about whether the free throw goes in. Be tough enough to go play defense. Things are not going to go right all the time in life, go play defense.”

Cronin has four games remaining in the regular season to get all his team’s issues straightened out. Sunday against Ohio State will be their next game, also taking place in Los Angeles. In a time when a nice bounce-back is needed, playing at home in Pauley Pavilion could be viewed as a massive boost.

He just might be hoping for a better response from fans to make the home court advantage truly matter.