Mick Cronin jokes UCLA wanted to be on Bad Beats with performance vs. Northwestern

Late in the game between UCLA and Northwestern, it looked like the Bruins were in control. That’s when, much to the frustration of head coach Mick Cronin, the Wildcats nearly were able to come all the way back.

With just three minutes left in the game, UCLA held a 14-point lead. By the time the game was over, it was just a four-point win. After the game, Cronin would joke that it’s because his team wanted to be on Bad Beats.

“We made it interesting. My buddy Scott Van Belt likes having us on Bad Beats,” Mick Cronin said. “So, I’m trying to get on that show. When I’m up late at night, I text him. I watch that crazy stuff that happens. You ever see it? It’s entertaining. It’s really the only thing I watch…We wanted to be on that show.”

Bad Beats is, of course, a segment on SportsCenter that Scott Van Pelt hosts highlighting bad sports betting beats when in the last moment the result of a bet flips from a win to a loss. A buzzer beater to put the point total over would be a basic example.

Jokes aside, Mick Cronin is clearly frustrated with his team’s effort and is concerned about what it means for them in the postseason.

“We’re trying to be a team that can win in March. We weren’t tough enough at Purdue to get the job done defensively. We had this team at 54 points in their own gym with two minutes left. I thought our attention to detail [was bad]. You can’t tell me you care if you forget what you’re supposed to do, because we go over it more than anybody in scouting. You can’t tell me you care if you watch when we shoot the ball, you don’t go after the rebound. We’ve had a good year, but we’re not going to be significant and have a chance to make a run in March if we don’t go after the ball like our lives are on the line when the shot comes off the rim on both ends,” Cronin said.

“And then we have to play defense with purpose and accountability to each other, and force shots over us – no more layups, no blow-bys, where they kick it out and shoot a three. Guard the ball, stay in front, and then rotate and attack, and rotate and attack.”

In the win over Northwestern, UCLA saw the Wildcats make a higher percentage of their shots. However, where UCLA was able to separate themselves from Northwestern, was on the boards where they had 10 more offensive rebounds than the Wildcats. Still, at times throughout the season, consistent effort and defensive presence have been an issue this season.

“I just don’t think we played hard enough defensively for part of this Big Ten season. We did against Michigan State, who is going to win our league. We did it against them, we did it against Gonzaga, we did it against Arizona,” Cronin said. “So, we’ve done it at a high level. But we haven’t been consistent, and that’s on me. That’s totally on me. It’s my job to try to get us there because otherwise, we’re going home early. The consistent teams will march on. So, you know me, I always try to tell the guys the truth about what it’s going to take, but we’ve all got to accept the fact that we have to hold each other to a really high standard from an effort standpoint, concentration standpoint, and playing physical.”

The last two minutes of the game against Northwestern were where UCLA ran into issues. That came down to a few different things for Mick Cronin, but using timeouts effectively was the biggest reason Mick Cronin highlighted.

“In all seriousness, multiple times we should have called time out. We had three timeouts. I told the guys over and over to call timeout, call timeout, and we had a lot of dead balls. We had three timeouts and we were in trouble. Everybody’s allowed to call timeout. They can’t hear me, I’m calling timeout, but the refs can’t hear me. Now, Tyler [Bilodeau] said he had the ball and he was trying to call timeout,” Cronin said. “But it looked to me like he was trying to pass it. And then we have to make free throws late. We have to make one-and-ones late.”

UCLA has just one regular season game left. On Saturday, the Bruins will host USC, looking to build momentum ahead of the Big Ten Tournament.