Mick Cronin raves about UCLA’s ability to overcome illness vs. Penn State

The UCLA Bruins have been battling a severe outbreak of illness within the team. Even with that, and to the delight of head coach Mick Cronin, the Bruins were able to overcome being sick to beat the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Cronin shared that he believes it’s been the norovirus that UCLA is battling. That actually kept himself, as well as Skyy Clark, Tyler Bilodeau, Aday Mara, and William Kyle, from practicing in the lead-up to the game. So, it’s not a surprise that he raved about their performance.

“Coaching staff got the job done,” Mick Cronin said. “I was not in practice yesterday, nor was Skyy, Tyler, Will, or Aday. So, if it looked like Aday and Tyler were struggling getting up and down, they were. Skyy Clark’s a stud, man, because I know I haven’t eaten since Wednesday night. I had a popsicle this morning with an IV. I don’t know how the hell he — he’s six for seven totaled 24 minutes. Some guys are just built better than others. He’s obviously a much better athlete than his coach. I know I’m old, but I don’t know how he did it.”

UCLA ended up winning the game 78-54, even while battling illness. It was their seventh win in a row and came on the back of an excellent defensive performance. In particular, the Bruins outrebounded Penn State while forcing 18 turnovers, which was particularly impressive given the circumstances around the game.

“Obviously Penn State’s dealing with some injuries. Their starting center out. Number five out for them as well. But concerned with emotional letdown after a big win over Michigan State comes in ranked seventh in the country. Obviously, an emotional win. Closer than it should’ve been because of our offense, but emotional win. The Pauley was charged,” Cronin said.

“So, concerned with the letdown but you know, maybe what happened to the team focused some other guys. Me going down yesterday and we were sending guys home Thursday. As we were getting ready for practice, it was, who drops next? We had to invoke Covid rules. Shooting at your own basket, sanitized the practice facility, everybody’s food, and out the door. I think Michigan State had two guys out today, [Jeremy] Fears and [Xavier] Booker didn’t play for them.”

UCLA will now look to get healthy and continue its winning ways moving forward in February. That starts with a tough road test against the Illinois Fighting Illini on Tuesday night.

Mick Cronin cracks joke about assistant coaches amid team-wide illness

Seemingly feeling better after the win against Penn State, Mick Cronin did take the time to joke about how his assistant coaches could stand to catch the illness and lose a little weight amid the outbreak.

“You hope, tough to say. I heard the women’s team had somebody out. I heard football had like 30 guys deal with it the last couple of weeks. They got 100 guys in that building. Tough to say,” Cronin said.

“A few of my assistant coaches could stand to lose a few pounds, so maybe. You know, I don’t need it. I don’t need it.”