Bruins Must Turn the Tide of Road Conferences Woes

The UCLA Bruins have been blazing hot of late, winning seven straight games, but have experienced their share of struggles away from the West Coast. Their upcoming road trip is crucial for their conference title hopes and ability to play well on the road.

Jan 21, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Dylan Andrews (2) is greeted by forward Tyler Bilodeau (34) during the second half against the Wisconsin Badgers at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images | Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

The UCLA Bruins (18-6, 9-4) are gearing up for a two-game road trip that will take them over 2,000 miles away from Westwood, preparing to face the Illinois Fighting Illini (16-8, 8-6) on Tuesday night and wrapping up with the Indiana Hoosiers (14-10, 5-8) on Friday.

The Bruins have earned seven straight wins, including five being at home. They will head out East for the first time since suffering a four-game losing streak to start the month of January which has been a familiar struggle for the group this season.

The Bruins are 3-3 on the road against Big Ten teams this season, but are 0-3 when traveling out of the Pacific Time Zone. Their three road wins have come against USC, Oregon, and Washington, while dropping games to Maryland, Rutgers, and Nebraska during that four-game skid.

Coach Mick Cronin had voiced his displeasure earlier this season with how the conference schedule was created as his team has already made several cross-country trips to play Big Ten opponents and have not succeeded. The amount of miles they have traveled this year is stunning.

"We've seen the Statue of Liberty twice in the last three weeks while we were landing," Cronin said. "We also saw the Capitol Building. And we’ve still got to go back, and then we’ve got to go back for the Big Ten tournament. They do it one time. I mean, he's asking me to feel sorry because Iowa had to come to L.A. for a few days?"

Quite a fair gripe from Cronin as the expanded conference has struggled to evenly distribute games between each side of the country. As the Bruins' head coach mentioned, there will still be another trip on the schedule as they will be in Indianapolis, Ind. for the Big Ten tournament in a few weeks.

If UCLA is able to at least grab one win on this two-game trip, consider it a win. They have not put together a strong showing against a traditional Big Ten team on the road this year, but have the opportunity against a pair of unfamiliar, unranked opponents this week.

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