Bruins' Cronin on Why His Team Was Able to Dominate the Way it Did Against SUU

UCLA vanquished Southern Utah in a 45-point blowout. Bruins coach Mick Cronin seemed to think it had more to do with the Thunderbirds' schedule as of late.

Nov 26, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach Mick Cronin reacts during a game against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

UCLA rolled past Southern Utah in another dominant 88-43 win on Tuesday, extending their undefeated record at home, as well as their win streak, which grew to five games.

As is often the case, while it was a strong showing for the Bruins, Coach Mick Cronin rather downplayed the win.

“They’ve [Southern Utah] been on the road quite a while, guys," Cronin said postgame. "it obviously showed. Coming into the game tonight, they were 6-1 with multiple road wins. Obviously, they didn’t have a lot in them tonight, and we got away with Tyler [Bilodeau] having his first big off night for us. Lazar [Stefanovic] was obviously great, I’m very happy for him. He’s put in the extra work. Eric Dailey continues to be our most consistent guy because Eric Dailey’s got the most consistent work ethic of all of our players.”

Cronin was actually fearful of things going much differently in Tuesday's matchup.

“I thought that Southern Utah was completely out of gas," he said. "I was a nervous wreck all weekend. They’re 6-1. They’re up 15 to 20 in both of their games on Friday and Saturday, down at USD. They took Loyola to the buzzer -- Loyola Chicago is 7-0. They just must have had no gas in the tank tonight. Obviously, a lot of guys did a lot of good things, our preparation was good. We offensive rebounded. I was happy with that because we couldn’t throw it in the ocean for a while.” 

It was the perfect win for a Bruins team that now heads into Big Ten play next week. That's when the real test begins.

"Obviously from here on out, we’ve got Big Ten play starting the next two games, then three top-20 teams -- that’s your December," Cronin said. "So, we’re going to find out. But that’s on me to make sure we’re ready."

Senior guard Lazar Stefanovic led the Bruins in scoring with 19. He was one of three to finish in double figures in the scoring column, including sophomore guard Eric Dailey Jr. (15) and junior guard Dylan Andrews (11).

UCLA will host Washington on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. PST, 10:30 p.m. EST.

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