SAN FRANCISCO — It was the sort of showing that left Mick Cronin with plenty to criticize, and he didn’t hold back.
In a somewhat subdued monologue after a loss that will probably knock his team out of the national rankings, the UCLA basketball coach lamented his team’s attitude, lack of toughness, inability to make free throws and shortage of savvy despite being filled with veterans.
His harshest verbal jab? Cronin saved that for himself.
“Look, I’m not happy with our performance,” Cronin said after the No. 18 Bruins’ 80-72 setback against California on Tuesday night at the Chase Center, “but I’ll take the blame. You guys can read the stat sheet, you saw the game, you make your own assessments, [but] when it comes to the game, how we play is my responsibility.”
Nearly a month into the season, it might be time to worry about these Bruins.
Some uneven play over the first few weeks could be shrugged off as a team filled with new players finding its footing.
But there was no reasonable explanation for what happened against an old Pac-12 rival in a matchup that should have stirred some intensity before a lively crowd. Instead, UCLA looked like it had little interest in being here.
“Their attitude was better,” Cronin said of the Golden Bears, who notched their first victory over a nationally ranked team in coach Mark Madsen’s two-plus seasons. “They came to get a big win, our guys thought it was going to be a walk in the park — that’s just my opinion.”
Things bottomed out for UCLA (5-2) with about two minutes to go when point guard Donovan Dent went down with an apparent lower leg injury and limped off the court.
Any lingering comeback hopes formally ended when Cal’s Dai Dai Ames unleashed a crossover move that he followed with a three-pointer to give the Golden Bears (6-1) an eight-point lead with 1:24 remaining.
And so a game that started with UCLA scoring the first eight points ended with a whimper, Cal making 11 of 22 three-pointers and using several gigantic runs to swing momentum in its favor. Golden Bears forward Chris Bell was especially unstoppable, making five of seven three-pointers on the way to 22 points while often finding himself wide open.
“Our team attitude was terrible — it’s been a problem for a month,” Cronin said. “It affects performance. You get in a ring against somebody that wants to fight, you give them confidence early, you’re in for a fight.”
Most concerning for UCLA are the continued struggles of Dent. The transfer from New Mexico who arrived with great fanfare has hardly looked like a top-level player through the season’s first month.
“He’s got to play better if we’re going to have a chance,” Cronin said. “Somehow, I gotta help him do that.”
Dent’s showing Tuesday represented a new low. He never looked comfortable while making just one of eight shots on the way to a season-low three points. His season-long shooting woes are particularly acute from the three-point line (10%) and free-throw line (56.7%) and his passing has been reckless at times.
UCLA guard Donovan Dent takes the ball up the court.
(Jan Kim Lim / UCLA Athletics)
Dent flung one pass toward the corner, where there wasn’t a teammate, and made a bounce pass that was headed toward the backcourt before Trent Perry saved it from becoming another turnover. Dent finished the game with nearly as many turnovers (six) as assists (seven).
But he was hardly the only culprit on a team that led by six points early in the second half before folding.
“When things don’t go well, we get soft and panic real quick,” Cronin said. “So although we’re an older team, we lack a toughness right now.”
As further evidence of his point, Cronin said his team’s 20 deflections — steals, blocked shots, tipped passes and loose balls collected — might have represented a five-year low. There was also the matter of the Bruins making only 13 of 23 free throws and guards Jamar Brown and Trent Perry each committing a foul coming out of a late timeout when Cronin had expressly told his players not to foul.
“A guy without the ball — not driving at the rim, a cutter,” Cronin said of the Cal player that was hacked. “That’s a lack of discipline and you deserve to lose.”
Making a case for a larger role, particularly until Dent returns to form, Perry led the Bruins with 19 points off the bench and forward Eric Dailey Jr. added 17 points and seven rebounds, though there was no solace to be found in the stat sheet.
“We weren’t happy, obviously,” Dailey said of the scene in the locker room after the game. “A lot of faces that we ain’t seen before, so we’ll figure it out.”
UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau, the team’s leading scorer, missed his second consecutive game with a knee sprain that could keep him out another week or so. But he appeared to be moving well while getting in some pregame dribbling work with assistant coach David Singleton.
Maybe he’ll come back soon, bolstering a team in need of significant help.
“We’re going to toughen up or it’s going to be a long year,” Cronin said. “You can’t have a glass jaw, you know, that’s scary right now for us. Like, that’s got me nervous.”
