UCLA players have responded to challenges from Mick Cronin and each other

LOS ANGELES — Public image be damned, UCLA men’s basketball coach Mick Cronin has never been shy about blatantly challenging his teams. He’s done it on two occasions with this year’s group, hoping to incite a response from his players.

When he called them soft and delusional after a 94-75 loss to Michigan on Jan. 7, he received flack from national media, notably ESPN’s Jay Bilas. His players met that message with a string of desperate play as a four-game losing streak ensued.

Then, following that fourth loss, a 75-68 defeat to Rutgers on Jan. 13, he called out their personalities.

“They’re good kids,” Cronin told reporters before a practice on Jan. 16. “It can’t just be okay. It can’t be okay in the locker room. It can’t just be me.

“At some point, you gotta have some players that say enough is enough.”

Individually, players started to look at themselves in the mirror. But in those mirrors stood their teammates because they realized, whether they were a transfer or a returner, they each shared a common theme.

“All of us came from places, or been in places where we have lost,” sophomore Sebastian Mack said. “We didn’t want that feeling anymore, so we tried to pack in as a unit, regardless of the coaches, just talk amongst each other, and then just figure it out.”

Behind that bond, UCLA (15-6 overall, 6-4 Big Ten) flipped its season. The Bruins have answered their four-game losing streak with four consecutive wins, the latest an 82-76 victory over crosstown rival USC (12-8, 4-5) on Monday night at the Galen Center.

Beyond Cronin’s words, it took players drawing a line between cordial personal relationships off the court and competitive connections in practice and games. Understanding nothing inside those 94-feet was personal and that those two atmospheres shouldn’t conflate with one another.

When Cronin went about building his 2024 transfer class, the win-loss records of a player’s previous team weren’t a dealbreaker.

“I tried to go out in the portal and get some tough dudes,” Cronin said on Dec. 28.

Skyy Clark came from an 8-24 Louisville team, Eric Dailey Jr. came from a 12-20 Oklahoma State team, Tyler Bilodeau came from a 13-19 Oregon State team, and Kobe Johnson came from a 15-18 USC team.

Then there were the returning players, Dylan Andrews, Lazar Stefanovic, Sebastian Mack and Aday Mara, each key components of a 16-17 UCLA team, the program’s first losing season in 10 years.

Despite those poor numerical results, Cronin felt he had identified transfers, he said on Jan. 2, who cared about winning. They all might have lost games on their previous teams, but short-term situations don’t simply define who players are.

It just meant they had to learn, or relearn, what it took to win.

“It takes time to build habits,” Cronin said on Jan. 23. “Defense, attention to detail, shot selection, taking care of the ball, rebounding, like those are the things that determine victory. Not talent.”

But, as the losses piled up in early January, Cronin’s words rang loud and the players’ didn’t. He called out their physicality level, their demeanors. It was Cronin who got ejected against Maryland as he tried to inspire his team.

A coach’s words can only go so far. Only did the Bruins season start to change course when the players took action. Notably, Sebastian Mack, Kobe Johnson and Eric Dailey Jr. took responsibility, rising as vocal leaders.

Cronin felt Mack could be an extension of himself because they came from a similar area, where it was normal for coaches to scream at their players and demand a high standard. He had acquired Johnson with the hopes of him being the Bruins’ senior leader. He thought Dailey would be able to back up his voice with his versatile and rugged play.

Each began to take baby steps, speaking up at a practice here, after a game there, but following the loss to Rutgers, it became imperative they let their voices be heard or risk losing the season.

“I knew we hit the wall as a team,” Dailey said. “I was really just encouraging guys to just be confident in themselves. It looks like it worked, so I’m gonna keep doing that.”

Over the last two weeks, that impact has manifested itself in the win column and can be felt throughout UCLA’s locker room from the coach-picked leaders all the way down, Dailey said, to freshman Trent Perry. They’re louder when calling out switches, pick-and-roll coverages and each other, regardless if it’s positive or negative.

And fair as can be, Cronin praised them for their growth just as he called them out when they weren’t doing it.

“Kids are fighting their hearts out to win games, and that’s what wins games,” he said. “You gotta give them all the credit.”