Mick Cronin reveals impact of full-court press on defense

No. 4 UCLA has won 25 games already and has proven it’s one of the most difficult matchups in the country. Part of the reason is the Bruins are versatile enough to do a lot of different things, like running the full-court press on defense occasionally.

But while the Bruins have run the press here and there, coach Mick Cronin is aware it comes with some drawbacks.

“When you do press sometimes you’re going to have matchups,” Cronin said. “When you get back to your man-to-man, you don’t have the right matchups, you’ve got to just get the closest guy to you. You have to live with that.”

That UCLA has been able to do it successfully is a testament to learning which guys can press well and which are probably not quite as suited for it.

Tyger Campbell, for example, is not a player Cronin cares to run the press with. He’s not quite as good as an on-ball defender and he’s a little smaller than some of the other guards.

“I’d love to be able to have where all of our guards can really do it, because I know how disruptive it can be,” Cronin said.

But in the absence of that, knowing how the matchups coming out of the full-court press could stack up is important.

That’s why Cronin is careful to pick his spots when employing the disruptive strategy. If the other team is aware, they can catch you in some bad matchups and take advantage.

That’s what Cronin prefers not to see.

“The yin and yang of we want to slow them down or we want to mess with them with our pressure, when they break it we’re probably not going to have the matchups or at least all the matchups you want in man-to-man,” Cronin said. “You have to weigh that. You have to weigh it.”

UCLA will be back in action, full-court press and all, tonight with a game against Arizona State at home. The game will tip off at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.