UCLA has misplaced two straight. Five fixes that would assist the Bruins

Mick Cronin hardly ever goes straightforward on his gamers.

Identified for ripping his staff in good occasions (a current dwelling win over USC, albeit a hideous one) and dangerous (a November loss to Illinois after holding a 15-point lead within the second half), UCLA’s risky coach took a softer strategy Thursday night time.

He praised USC. He gave the Trojans credit score for mucking up the eighth-ranked Bruins’ offense. For making “unguardable” photographs. For getting followers behind them on the best way to a runaway 77-64 victory on the Galen Middle wherein they outscored UCLA by 25 factors within the second half.

His guys? Cronin acknowledged they didn’t play nicely. That was about it.

“You want me to come in here and beat my team up?” Cronin informed reporters after his staff’s second consecutive loss dropped it to 17-4 total and 8-2 within the Pac-12. “We play freshmen, we’re far from a juggernaut.”

It was paying homage to the best way Cronin responded to his staff’s three-game dropping streak on the finish of the 2020-21 season.

“We’re overachieving,” Cronin mentioned at that time. “They’re giving everything they got. My fear is they run out of gas.”

These Bruins went on to drop one other sport, towards Oregon State within the Pac-12 match. What occurred subsequent? UCLA rolled off 5 consecutive victories within the NCAA match as a part of a exceptional run from the First 4 to the Remaining 4.

These Bruins want a couple of fixes to make that type of postseason push, however some perspective is an effective place to begin. No season ends with two straight losses in late January.

UCLA leads Utah by half a sport within the Pac-12 standings on the midpoint of convention play. Every part it desires to attain this season stays in play. Listed below are 5 issues the Bruins should do to win their first Pac-12 regular-season title in a decade: