LOS ANGELES — As the UCLA men’s basketball team tries to end its four-game losing streak Thursday night against No. 5 Arizona, Bruins coach Mick Cronin is facing the prospect of missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2010, when he was a fourth-year coach at Cincinnati.
“They’re doing the best they can do,” Cronin said about this season’s team. “They’ve done the best they can do, it’s just reality, we got stuck in a rebuilding year. We tried to overcome it with our recruiting and it’s the way it is.”
Despite the Bruins’ sub-.500 overall record (14-15, 9-9 Pac-12) and being tied for fifth place in the Pac-12 standings with two regular-season games to go, UCLA sophomore forward Adem Bona believes the team still has a lot of play for.
“We just want to show our identity, what we stand for,” Bona said before Tuesday’s practice. “As a team, I believe we have an identity of playing hard, playing tough, playing together as a group. … every single one of us on the team has pride and we want to play hard for the team and play for UCLA.”
The Bruins have won their last five home games against Arizona, a streak that dates to a 90-68 victory on Jan. 30, 2019.
UCLA did suffer a 77-71 loss at Arizona on Jan. 20, which came right before the team’s season-best six-game winning streak.
Here’s what you need to know about the Pac-12 matchup:
UCLA VS. NO. 5 ARIZONA
When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday
Where: Pauley Pavilion
TV/Radio: ESPN/1150 AM
Records: UCLA 14-15 overall, 9-9 in Pac-12 play; Arizona 23-6, 14-4
UCLA’s latest result: The Bruins are coming off a 77-65 loss at Washington State on March 2, despite four players in double figures: Dylan Andrews (21), Sebastian Mack (11), Lazar Stefanovic (11) and Bona (10).
However, UCLA’s bench added only six points and did not help the starters keep pace with the Cougars junior forward Jaylen Wells, who scored a game-high 27 points, including three 3-pointers.
Arizona’s latest…
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