UCLA Basketball: Mick Cronin Explains How Critical Adjustments Yielded First Win In Weeks

Your UCLA Bruins finally put their ignominious four-game losing streak to bed, opening their Pac-12 conference play with a 69-62 victory over the Oregon State Beavers.

Head coach Mick Cronin sang his praises of the opposition -- and of his own club's huge win, according to UCLA Communications

“We got some guys who produced. They’re tough to play. A much-improved team," Cronin said of Oregon State. "Watching them on film, defensively, they’re 8-0 at home – very improved basketball team this year. Five of their first eight guys are back. I was concerned about would we be able to score with only two days from Christmas to get ready for the matchups? We made adjustments on our attack as the game went on. The kids did a good job of that. We finally got some assists. But look, some guys performed."

After this, Cronin revealed exactly which problems UCLA identified as issues to improve during that losing streak.

"I’ll tell you three things that we focused on and identified," Cronin explained. "We got to guard the ball better. We did that. We got to stop fouling. We did that until late into the game. They didn’t shoot a free throw in the first half. Maryland shot 30. We got to guard the ball better. We got to stop fouling. When we help, we’ve got to get something done. Steal the ball, block a shot. We can’t just help and leave people open.