Mick Cronin calls Arizona loss an 'unofficiated street fight'

No. 12 ranked Arizona put an end to UCLA‘s two-game winning streak on Saturday, coming from behind to defeat the Bruins 77-71 on their home court in Tucson.

The Wildcats battled back in impressive fashion, finding themselves down by 9 points at halftime after losing by 19 points with seven minutes remaining in the first half. But UCLA head coach Mick Cronin made it very clear that he felt the officiating in the second half had a major impact on the outcome of the game, not wasting a word in his postgame comments.

“We were able to pass, and move, and run offense in the first half,” Cronin said. “Then the game became an unofficiated street fight and we had to spread it out and drive the ball, we couldn’t throw a pass.”

The Bruins shot better from the field and from behind the three-point line on Saturday compared to Arizona, but the Wildcats were able to rack up a ton of points from the free-throw line, especially in the second half. Arizona had 29 free throw attempts on the night with 23 of them coming in the second half, scoring 25 points from the line compared to the 12 made free throws by UCLA on 14 attempts.

The notion was presented to Cronin that it’s hard to win games with his team missing some crucial shots down the stretch, which he quickly interrupted to harp on how the Wildcats’ excessive foul calls are what truly made things difficult for the Bruins.

“No, it’s hard to win a game when the other team shoots 23 free throws in the second half,” Cronin said.

“Well the team that’s losing usually has to play harder to catch up when you have a double-figure deficit. You’re the one that’s gonna get the fouls, you’re the one denying, grabbing, holding, trying to scratch and claw to get back in the game. Not the winning team, we’re not trying to pressure or steal the ball,” Cronin explained. “But that’s the way it went so that’s when it’s hard to win.”

The loss marks UCLA’s 11th of the season and their fifth in conference play with just three wins in their last 10 games. As Cronin made his overall frustration clear through his interactions with the media following Saturday’s game on various occasions.

When asked if anything happened between Arizona’s fans after the game, Cronin responded to a reporter saying, “Nothing happened with the fans, nothing, but I would expect nothing less from you.”

And when Cronin was asked about what made Arizona’s leading scorer in the game Pelle Larson so effective he responded, “Ask Tommy Lloyd that.”

Hopefully, the Bruins can get on the winning side of things and uplift the spirits of their head coach in their next matchup, as they take on USC this Saturday at 8:00 p.m. ET in a game airing on ESPN2.