Mick Cronin shares challenge of playing basketball while Los Angeles fires continue

The UCLA Bruins lost their fourth straight game on Monday night, dropping a road game against Rutgers. Still, with fires raging across Los Angeles, head coach Mick Cronin and the Bruins had the devastation on their minds ahead of any basketball game.

After the game, Cronin shared just how difficult it is to focus on the challenge of basketball amid the fires in Los Angeles.

“Did something go on during the game with the fire… I haven’t had time to check my phone,” Mick Cronin said. “No words. I just want to get home. I want to get home to my family, make sure — it’s tough when this is all going on and you’re not around your family. Making sure people are safe in times like this. So, it’s really, really hard.”

The fires in Los Angeles began on January 7th in the Pacific Palisades. A dry environment and strong winds made the fire quickly spread around the city. Those fires have since forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate and have led to the deaths of dozens of people.

UCLA’s last home game was on January 7th against Michigan and since then the Bruins have had two road games on the East Coast. Still, it’s been difficult not knowing what’s going on at home entirely, and in the case of Mick Cronin, his family needed to evacuate at one point.

“They did, but they’re back for now. We’re on the edge in Encino,” Cronin said. “Look, there’s a lot of people who have lost everything. It’s horrible. I was telling Coach [Steve] Pikiell, he was asking, it’s like something from a movie. It’s hard to even describe. It’s hard for you and I because we’re not there. It’s hard to process.”

The UCLA women’s basketball team has already had home games impacted by the Los Angeles fires. Their game against Northwestern was postponed while their game on Wednesday has been moved to Long Beach. Despite that, Mick Cronin doesn’t yet know how his team is going to be impacted.

“I haven’t talked to anybody,” Cronin said. “So, I don’t know about that. You probably know more than I do. I didn’t know that [the women’s game was moved to Long Beach]. I didn’t even know that.”

UCLA’s next home game is scheduled for Friday, January 17th, against the Iowa Hawkeyes.