Mick Cronin explains how his technical foul led to David Singleton displaying his leadership

In UCLA‘s recent game against Stanford, head coach Mick Cronin earned a technical foul early in the second half. David Singleton came over to his coach and tried to talk him down, a sign of the senior’s leadership abilities on the team.

However, Cronin wasn’t trying to get a technical. But he still appreciated what Singleton was trying to do.

“Yeah, I think he thought I was riff,” Cronin said. “I wasn’t trying to get a T. So I got upset because I got an unwarranted T from a guy wasn’t even talking to. I think Dave thought I was like gonna lose my mind. So he’s like, ‘don’t get thrown out coach.’ I was like, ‘I’m good, Dave, I don’t even wanna get that T.”

The Bruins are No. 1 in the Pac-12, and Cronin thinks that Singleton’s display of leadership has become a common theme among the older players in hopes of accomplishing that goal.

“The older guys who’ve been here they want to win the Pac-12,” Cronin said. “I always talked about gotta prepare. I always talk about solve the problem. We gotta get better. We got to be ready, come March. But they want to win. I can tell you. Not that we don’t want to win the Pac-12 But here at UCLA we talk about get better, get better, become a better person, become a better player and get ready for March. They want to win. There’s no question they do something they haven’t done.”

David Singleton not the only player displaying leadership down the stretch

In addtion to David Singleton, Tyger Campbell, Jaylen Clark and Jaime Jaquez are all showing their leadership in different ways as UCLA is coming down the home stretch of one of its best regular seasons in years.

The team has the potential to win its first Pac-12 regular season title in a decade but Campbell is not telling the team get ahead of itself.

“You always take it one game at a time,” Campbell said during media availability Tuesday. “We’re just focused on Utah right now. But I’ve been here for four years and we’ve never won the conference. So of course that’s on my mind. That’s the goal but we’re trying to win on Thursday.”

Neither is Jaquez, who is a Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate. He is No. 1 on the Bruins in points with 16.8 and rebounds at 8.1, both of which are top-five marks in the conference.

“It’s not an easy two gams to play at,” Jaquez said. “I know Utah and Colorado are very fun environments and difficult environments to play in as well. We just got to understand that. We got to take it one game at a time. That’s something that we’ve done all four years that I’ve been here.”