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UCLA's Mick Cronin: Tennessee Basketball has been in 'a golden era' under Rick Barnes

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey•about 15 hours•

GrantRamey

UCLA HC Mick Cronin
Kiyoshi Mio | Imagn Images

LEXINGTON — Mick Cronin compared it to boxing. Advancing in the NCAA Tournament, going from the first around against a No. 10 seed to the second round against a No. 2 seed, is a lot like going up in weight class. 

“I grew up a big boxing fan,” Cronin said Thursday night. “It’s different when you change weight classes, a little bit different when you change weight classes.”

That’s what No. 7 UCLA (23-10) will do when the Bruins face No. 2 Tennessee (28-7) on Saturday night (9:40 Eastern Time, TBS/TruTV) at Rupp Arena with a spot in the Sweet Sixteen on the line. 

No. 7 UCLA beat No. 10 Utah State 72-47 in first round

UCLA advanced with a 72-47 win over Utah State while the Vols beat No. 15 Wofford 77-62. Eric Dailey and Skyy Clark scored 14 points each to lead the Bruins in Thursday’s late game. UCLA shot 48.1% from the field and went 10-for-24 from the 3-point line. 

But that was against Utah State’s No. 151-ranked defense. Now UCLA faces a Tennessee defense that is currently ranked No. 3 and has finished in the top five in KenPom.com‘s adjusted defensive efficiency the last four seasons. 

“We don’t get to take any of these points with us,” Cronin said. “Whole new ball game.”

The boxing analogies continued while Cronin talked defense. 

“They used to say everybody thought they were tough until they walked in the ring with Mike Tyson,” he said. “Everybody had a lot to say until the guy with no socks walked in and crushed him.

“It’s a different animal. I’m really happy with our effort tonight. But we’ve been preparing all year to play Saturday. Hopefully a lot of the Big Ten battles we’ve had will prepare us, because my respect for Coach Barnes is off the charts.”

Cronin already had an early scouting report on the Vols after the win over Utah State.

“They’re always a great defensive team, they take care of the ball,” Cronin said. “They don’t beat themselves. They got a great point guard (Zakai Zeigler) … they got Jahmai Mashack, who we would have tried to sign but we didn’t have a scholarship. 

“We didn’t have a need for him at the time. But I knew he was a winner. He’s a great kid.”

UCLA tried to hire Rick Barnes away from Tennessee in 2019

Cronin is 138-63 in six seasons at UCLA, taking the Bruins to the Final Four in 2021 and back-to-back Sweet Sixteens in 2022 and 2023.

Before hiring Cronin away from Louisville in 2019, UCLA made a run at Barnes, nearing luring him away from the Vols after Tennessee went 31-6 and went to the Sweet Sixteen. 

Tennessee has won 106 games over the last four seasons and is coming off an Elite Eight run last season — just the second in program history — and a Sweet Sixteen in 2003.

“He does it the right way,” Cronin said of Barnes. “He cares about kids. He’s not a phony. He is who he is. And Tennessee got really lucky when somebody else let him go.

“It’s been great for Tennessee basketball, obviously. They’ve been in a golden era of being at the top or near the top of the SEC.”

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