Local High School Coach's Post Catches Fire in Defense of UCLA's Steven Jamerson

UCLA basketball coach Mick Cronin ejected his own player, Steven Jamerson, from Tuesday night's game against Michigan State.

UCLA coach Mick Cronin sent Bruins center Steven Jamerson II to the locker room after he committed a flagrant foul late in Tuesday night's blowout loss to Michigan State. / Adam Ruff/Icon Sportswire

UCLA men's basketball coach Mick Cronin was the lede on ESPN's SportCenter Tuesday night.

The well-known fiery coach decided to eject his own player — Steven Jamerson — from the game by sending him to the locker room with just over four minutes to play in the Bruins' eventual 82-59 blowout loss to Michigan State in East Lansing.

With the Bruins trailing 77-50 and 4:26 left to play, Jamerson tracked down Michigan State's Carson Cooper in the open floor to attempt a block from behind. Cooper was trying to dunk the ball. The official called a flagrant foul on Jamerson, who seemed to have good intentions on hustling and trying to make a play.

Cronin didn't like it, and immediately made Jamerson leave the floor during the game and enter the arena's tunnel for the locker room. The scene went viral on social media.

"I was thoroughly disappointed; the guy was defenseless in the air. I know Steve was trying to block the shot, but the game's a 25-point game. You don't do that," Cronin told reporters after the game.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo on the spectacle: "I guess he upgraded that to a flagrant 2, huh?" Izzo snickered in his postgame press conference. "That's the first time I saw a coach do it, but that sounds like Mick."

HIGH SCHOOL COACH'S POST CATCHES FIRE

Los Angeles native Steven Jamerson prepped at Crespi High in Encino, Calif. which sits on the south side of the well-known San Fernando Valley.

Current boys basketball assistant coach Ryan Moore, who is also a Crespi alum, and aids current head coach Derek Fisher, posted his thought on Twitter/X regarding the viral incident Tuesday night.

Local high school coach posts about Steven Jamerson after being ejected from a game by UCLA coach Mick Cronin. / Ryan Moore/X

The heartfelt message from Moore caught fire on Twitter/X, accumulating nearly 300,000 views before 11 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Moore touches on what the game likely meant for Jamerson as a full-circle moment.

"Steven Jamerson tried to walk on at Michigan St and was told no. So he asked to be a student manager and was told no," Moore posted. "The kid worked his tail off to play at USD eventually transferring to UCLA. Mick owed the kid more respect than that back at a place that holds those hard memories for Steven."

Seth Davis, one of the nation's top college basketball pundits, reposted Moore's thoughts with an opinon of his own. That post alone has garnered around 150,000 views.

"I didn't know any of this about Jamerson but it makes what Cronin did to him even more egregious. It was an overly hard foul that was adjudicated properly by officials as a flagrant 1. It was over the line for Cronin to humiliate him in that fashion," Davis wrote.

MORE ON STEVEN JAMERSON

Jamerson is a 6-foot-10 forward that averaged 8.0 points, 6.9 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 71 games (61 starts) over the past three seasons at the University of San Diego before transferring to UCLA.

Jamerson has played in 26 games this season and is averaging 11.3 minutes per game for the Bruins. He's currently averaging 2.2 points and 2.4 rebounds per game.

feed

---

Bookmark High School on SI for all of the latest high school sports news.

To get live updates on your phone — as well as follow your favorite teams and top games — you can download the SBLive Sports app: 

Download iPhone App | Download Android App