WATCH: Mick Cronin Previews UCLA-Gonzaga Sweet 16 Matchup
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UCLA men's basketball coach Mick Cronin spoke to reporters before the team left for the next round of the NCAA tournament in Las Vegas on Tuesday. Cronin talked about Adem Bona and David Singleton's health, the Bruins' March Madness history against Gonzaga, the challenges Drew Timme poses his defense, Gonzaga's new-look defense and UCLA's mentality heading into a third-straight Sweet 16.
Injury updates – can you tell us about Adem and David?
Uh, both great guys, that's all I gotta say on that. We'll see. Everybody's day-to-day, including me. And you.
So there's a chance they could play?
Everybody's day-to-day. So you're saying there's a chance.
Some people might think there are question marks about the health of your team
Yeah. I've got question marks about my health.
Start with Drew Timme when scouting Gonzaga?
Yeah, no doubt. I mean, he's a guy that can always take over a game. You can have him in check for 30 minutes, then he can dominate the last 10, he's just that kinda guy. He's been doing it for a long time, not an easy guy to deal with. Puts a lot of pressure on your defense – a lot of pressure. Tremendous, tremendous offensive player.
A chance we see Jaime against Timme the way you used him to good effect against Pember in the first round?
There's a lot of chances there could be a lot of matchups, none of which I'm gonna give two days before the game.
Amazing that these two teams have a history in March?
Yeah, that's a tough one for me. The only thing I know UCLA-Gonzaga played, Ryan Hollins sent me a clip of him making a free throw late in the game, so he's a friend of mine – what year was that? You guys know?
2006
Long time ago. My daughter was born. So yeah, has there been any other?
2015
2015? Who won that one?
Gonzaga...2021 was a good one too
Yeah, I mean, look – that was a great game. So, you know, I knew this was possible, on Selection Sunday, that we could both end up in the West. Obviously, both gotta win games to get to where we're at. We both had really tough games to get to this point and I'm just hoping we have as many fans as they do.
Can you describe your level of anxiousness and excitement for this game?
Oh, excitement. You know, it's all about excitement, I want the guys to enjoy every minute of this and be excited to play. Yeah, I think the people that are anxious got knocked out and they're waiting to meet with their AD.
What's the conversation like with the veterans regarding their emotional gas tank playing Gonzaga again?
Um, look, if you're not ready to play now, I don't know what – we need to check you into Ronald Reagan, check your heartbeat. This is what it's all about. We get four games away from hanging a 12th banner, that's how we look at it, that's how we talk about it. Everything we do is to try to get to a point where we can win six in March. We've won two, now three's on Thursday. Man, I don't know why you would come here if you're not gonna be ready to play on Thursday. We've got veterans on the team, that's my advantage. We've got guys, they know this is their last time doing it – Tyger, Jaime and David. So they're definitely bringing a sense of urgency to the young guys.
Jaime and Gabriela are the only brother-sister combo to make the Sweet 16 at the same school
I don't know, yeah, I mean, look, they're great kids, great family. Very, very fortunate that Angela and Big Hawk never moved out of California so their kids went to UCLA. Very, very fortunate. But yeah, I didn't know that. I did watch the game last night, though, so I know Gabriela had a big steal late in the game.
Message to the guys to keep them even-keeled?
We don't change a whole lot. Not a lot of – I'm not a rah-rah guy, so there's not a lot of phony in how we operate. We talk about this moment all year, so we're all business. It's all business for us. The biggest thing now is making sure you eliminate your distractions – tickets, hotels, friends, a million people that are trying to get a piece of you right now. That's the only thing I talk about right now that's different, is you gotta make sure you block all that stuff out, tell them you'll call them in two weeks.
How much tougher is that going where you're going?
I mean, if you're a high school basketball – if you're a kid playing basketball in LA, you've been going to Vegas for tournaments since you were 7, 8 years old. So it doesn't matter.
You said before that you never rewatched the end of the Gonzaga game – is that still the case?
You mean that shot?
Yeah
No, I studied the game last night, I hit pause as soon as we tied it. What the hell do I need to watch that for? You think I'm a masochist?
What did you see when you watched the film? First time you had seen it since?
No, no because we played them last year, so always studying to see, you know, I’d be no different than Chip preparing for a football game, what we did that worked, what didn’t work, what they did, you’ve got to make sure when you play teams that you go over that and in this situation, look, let’s be honest, Tommy Lloyd was on Gonzaga’s staff for 20 years, I would assume that he’s probably had a conversation with Mark Few. Arizona plays a similar style, so you’ve got to think about some of the things that Arizona did to us the last two times we played them, which were both in March, things that worked against us that Gonzaga may try. At this point, look, I’m concerned turning over every possible strategic thing we can to make sure we’re prepared for what they might try to do against us.
No Jalen Suggs – how different is this Gonzaga team from their Final Four team?
Well then they don’t have Andrew Nembhard, he’s in the NBA as well.
Corey Kispert gone too
Yeah. But, I mean, look, they had Chet Holmgren last year, so they don’t have the rim protection that they had with Chet Holmgren last year. From a size standpoint, they’re similar to the team that we played in the Final Four we played in the spring of ’21, so they’re similar to that from a size standpoint with Watson and Timmy—those two and Kispert were their three front-line guys in that game.
Third-straight Sweet 16 – what's different about this next step of the journey?
Uh, I don’t if anything’s different other than a couple of years ago we were in a bubble and it’s nice not have to go to Philadelphia—nothing against the City of Brotherly Love but that’s a long way from L.A., so it's nice to be in the West and have a short hop up to Vegas and hopefully have a lot of Bruin fans there, but every team’s different and obviously our team is much different than it was before Jaylen Clark’s injury, dealing with Adem Bona’s injuries and now David’s injury, so you’ve got to adjust and go with it. No time to cry—there’s always a way to win a game, so we’ve got to make sure we’re preparing to find a way to win no matter who plays or doesn’t play, there’s always a way to win and you’ve only got to win by one.
Metrics say their defense is more susceptible than in recent years?
Well, like I said, they don’t have the rim protection with no Chet Holmgren, it changed them last year, it really bothered us when we played them last year, but Watson, I don’t know if he leads the league but he’s a great steal guy, I think he might have more steals than Jaylen Clark this season. I don’t know what Jaylen ended up with—Alex is in charge of that stuff—but he’s up around 80 steals, he’s a veteran guy for them so I don’t think they play any freshmen and we play six, so the older you are, the more you’ve been coached so theoretically you’re in the right spot defensively more, but in their league they play a lot of high-scoring games, teams can’t keep up with them, so you’ve got to go back and watch their games against Michigan State, Texas, teams like that. LMU beat them up there, Stan did a great job controlling the tempo, they won a game in the 60s, so I don’t know, I guess my answer is, I don’t buy the metrics with them defensively because their numbers are so out of whack because of the league they play in, in my opinion.
What do you tell younger guys like Mac and Adem about Timme and being on the court with him for the first time?
Well, it’s the hardest thing to do is prepare for a guy that puts the pressure on the officials every time he’s in the low post, so you’ve got to be able to defend without fouling, which is really hard with the way he plays.
Elaborate any more on David Singleton and his health?
Great guy. His health?
How is he doing?
Day to day. Day to day.
Hoping for a big turnout for fans?
Yeah, I hope so. Look, I was really happy with the Sacramento turnout, a sea of blue and gold—that was awesome, really awesome. Our players deserve it, it helped us, it definitely helped us, so hopefully we’ll see it again in Vegas.
Players getting more and more excited? How do you calm them down to keep them on an even keel?
I don’t know if we would try to calm them down, I think it’s good if they’re excited, I would hope that they’re excited, they better be excited. It’s what I told them, if you’re not ready to play now, why did you come here? What are you doing this for? Since we started workouts in July, it’s all for hopefully the next two weeks. You know, every teaching point is to try to get us where we’re going, not have breakdowns, miscues and mistakes at this time of year, that’s what it’s all for, so I don’t worry too much about media things, guys too excited.
Team feel more united, better connected than previous teams you've taken to the Sweet 16?
No. We’ve had great—we didn’t get a chance that my year, we won seven of eight and that team was on a roll. Our teams have really been united and together toward the end of the season my entire four years here.
Jaylen Clark said he would be at the game– what is his presence going to mean?
It’s an advantage because he’s a very cerebral player. Getting him back around because he’s a guy that’s going to be sitting there, almost like an injured player in baseball sitting in the dugout really helping his teammates, I mean, he’s that cerebral on the things he can point out to his teammates, so really excited to have him back being around us and he deserves to take in the excitement, the environment, all that, but strategically, trust me, he’s a really smart player and he does a great job of talking to the younger guys.
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