UCLA Basketball: Mick Cronin's Terse Review Of First Berke Buyuktuncel Game In 3 Weeks

The prospective first round NBA pick has had a rough start.

Your 2023-24 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team has had a bumpy go of it across this first month and change of the NCAA season. The club wrapped up its non-conference play portion of the year with a middling 5-6 record, marked by some disappointing close losses. 

UCLA added eight new players this year, seven of them freshmen, and the results thus far have clearly reflected the team's lack of reps together.

One of the most highly-touted new prospects joining the club is 6'9" Turkish forward Berke Buyuktuncel. Through his five available games this season, he's averaging five points on .250/.167/.667 shooting splits, 3.6 rebounds, one assist and 0.6 blocks a night.

Fifth-year head coach Mick Cronin submitted a fairly terse appraisal of Buyuktuncel's performance thus far, per UCLA Communications.

“Fouls. Fouls too much,” Cronin said simply.

To be fair, Cronin has before appreciated the 19-year-old's contributions as a rebounder, per Joseph Crosby of The Daily Bruin

“When I look down the line, I would say Berke, that’s an area (offensive rebounding) where he helped us,” Cronin said. “He’s got good hands – we’ve got some guys that know they don’t have great hands. Rebounding is about positioning and angles, and he does a good job with that.”