LOS ANGELES — For the first time in the Mick Cronin era at UCLA, the Bruins will begin Pac-12 play with a losing record.
After winning last season’s Pac-12 regular-season title and finishing with a 31-6 record and Sweet 16 appearance, Cronin’s team is off to a 5-6 start this season.
UCLA is coming off a disappointing 69-60 home loss to Maryland last Friday. Afterward, Cronin opined that he believed his young team, which includes seven freshmen (four international players) and only one senior, had lost its confidence. The Bruins have struggled offensively this season, shooting 42.2% from the field and 29.4% from 3-point range this season, which is well below last season’s 46.0% from the field and 34.9% from behind the arc.
“Nobody feels sorry,” said Cronin, who took over in Westwood in 2019. “You have to get better. We have a really hard problem. We really struggle guarding the basketball and then our second thing, we get broken down and we foul and that’s killing our defense.”
UCLA, which has not beaten a Power Five opponent yet this season, is on a four-game losing streak heading into Thursday night’s Pac-12 opener at Oregon State (8-3). Cronin, who has long been known as a defensive-minded coach, said this year’s roster would benefit from simplified defensive concepts.
“But just our energy level, so we have to figure it out, one way or the other. I don’t think we’re smart enough, old enough to play trickier zones,” Cronin continued. “Complicated, this group can’t handle so it’s a two-way street. We have to get better in practice, strategically we’ve got to figure some things out.”
Before the season, the Bruins were picked to finish third in the conference but they enter Pac-12 play with the second-worst nonconference record, just ahead of Cal (4-7), which was picked to finish 11th.
No. 4 Arizona (9-2), is the only ranked Pac-12 team heading into…
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