LOS ANGELES — What was that Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion? What even? This season of UCLA men’s basketball, just … what gives?
What it was, technically: a lopsided 88-65 loss to traditional rival Arizona in what will be the last regular-season Pac-12 game between the teams. Mostly, though: The least inspired, least inspiring exhibition of basketball I’ve seen … ever? And I’ve been forced, for work, to watch a good many of the Clippers’ too-early matinee clunkers.
You’d think, though, that a columnist worth her salt would have a zest for such affairs. Tee off on some zingers. Describe, maybe, Thursday’s State of the Bruin: Unspeakable.
Suggest, perhaps, that coach – and general manager, he noted Thursday – Mick Cronin resist the urge to do any recruiting in Denmark. They have enough BrickMasters on the roster now – UCLA shot 23 for 59 (39%) – they don’t need to go shopping at Lego HQ for any more.
Reflect on what a chore it is for this UCLA team to score; it wouldn’t surprise me if the players argued about it in the locker room. About who is supposed to do it this time, as if scoring were a matter of taking out the trash or doing the dishes. Or maybe cleaning the cat box. Changing a diaper?
Because, yes, they were in for a challenge against the No. 5 ranked Wildcats, but still, P.U., was that a stinker.
Everything about the night was off the mark – the intended section-by-section “stripe out” that was supposed to present a bold blue-and-white motif around the arena? A strikeout. Not enough fans (allegedly, 8,428?) showed. And those who did looked put off that being at Pauley meant they were going to miss tuning in for the start of the UCLA women’s basketball game at the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas.
Three times, at least, “U of A!” chants took over, with no pushback from Bruins fans in the building – where in the second half, when the Bruins fell behind by as many as 28 points, a deficit basically as insurmountable as K2, the in-arena host opted to open a timeout dance break by announcing: “There has been a murder…”
The punchline, after a long pause, “… on the dance floor!”
She must have misspoke, though, because surely she meant just “on the floor.”
The most excitement from the Bruins’ fans perspective all game was the rousing cheer that went up with a minute to go, when Arizona’s Will Menaugh missed two free throws – because it meant fans could take advantage of the promotion that awarded them free fries. If anyone questions how cooked this Bruins season is, there you had it. Officially French fried.
Bruins fans would blame Chip Kelly for how bad it’s gone, if they could. What the heck, if it makes them feel better, maybe they should?
I can write all that, and I guess I just did, but it’s unnecessary when the Bruins’ own coach can do it better.
“Arizona? They’re just better than us. They’re better than us on the backboard, they’re better than us on offense, they’re better than us on defense. We had no chance of matching their firepower,” Cronin said matter-of-factly.
He seemed more resigned this time than interested of lighting a fire under his team, which won won of eight of nine games at one point, but lost its fifth consecutive and fell to 9-10 in conference and 14-16 overall.
“Look, I thought Dylan Andrews (18 points on 7-for-17 shooting) played as hard as he can play, proud of him, and Lazar (Stefanovic) in the second half (when he scored all 20 of his points) played with some heart,” Cronin allowed.
“But,” he went on, “Sebastian (Mack), Jan (Vide), Burke (Buyuktuncel), Brandon (Williams) and Will (McClendon)? They get beat every time somebody dribbles the ball.
“Most teams, they have to run stuff to hurt you?” Cronin said. “All you gotta do is just drive by us.”
UCLA men’s basketball coach Mick Cronin said Arizona is just better than UCLA. Cronin went on to say at this point of the season all he can do is keep coaching because he can’t play for his players. pic.twitter.com/7YJNNJXSfX
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) March 8, 2024
I’m starting to think Cronin doesn’t like this team – a young bunch, with seven freshman trying to find their way – any more than the long-faced fans sitting quietly in the stands Thursday night, appearing ready for this uninspiring season’s merciful conclusion and, yes, for the transfer portal to open March 18.
“I would’ve obviously wished that some of our younger players had developed more and been more productive,” said Cronin, who gave me a Clippers analogy in an attempt to explain the Bruins’ roster construction – which is where the coach who just led UCLA to three consecutive NCAA Sweet 16s, including the 2021 Final Four, and last season’s Pac-12 regular-season title seems to think he went wrong with this particular group.
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“Like, Lawrence Frank (the Clippers’ president of basketball operations) was here tonight tonight,” Cronin said. “He’s doing personnel and Ty Lue is coaching. But in my job, I do both. So you have to take your hat off, right? You’re responsible for development, but when you’ve done this long enough, you recruit two guys in the same class and four years later, one guy’s a pro or scores 2,000 points and the other guy is making the same mistakes.
“That’s just life. You just have to evaluate who you can build with and who gets better. But a lot of our freshmen, no, they have not played or developed the way that I would’ve hoped.”
Then Cronin shrugged, and I had my answer: What was that Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion?
Basketball’s version of a shrug.