Bruins' Cronin Prepares For Tough Battle With Arizona

The UCLA Bruins will be back in action this Saturday as they prepare for a familiar foe from the Pac-12, the Arizona Wildcats. Bruins coach Mick Cronin spoke on the upcoming matchup and the fresh faces he will see on the other end.

Dec 8, 2024; Eugene, Oregon, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach Mick Cronin during the second half against the Oregon Ducks at Matthew Knight Arena. Mandatory Credit: Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images / Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images

The No. 24 UCLA Bruins (8-1) will hit the road for a second-straight game as they travel to play the Arizona Wildcats (4-4) in Phoenix, Arizona.

Both teams have many new faces on their teams as the Bruins brought in several new transfer players, and so did the Wildcats. Looking back at last year's Wildcat team, three of their top four scorers are no longer with the program.

The Wildcats are coached by Tommy Lloyd in his fourth year with the program, making a Sweet 16 run last season with an extremely talented group.

The Wildcats' leading scorer, Caleb Love, was the main star of last year's team, along with dominant center Oumar Ballo, who transferred to the Indiana Hoosiers, and guard Pelle Larsson, who is now a member of the Miami Heat in the NBA. This is a whole new team from what they were last year.

Bruins coach Mick Cronin spoke this week about what he expects from a familiar matchup that was had annually in the Pac-12.

"They've had a changing of the guard, so to speak, since Coach [Tommy] Lloyd's been there," Cronin said. "He had [Oumar] Ballo and (Pelle) Larsson, two guys that come to mind, especially Larsson, just an unbelievable winner. So they've had a change, had a lot of change in their personnel, but they're still the same, nothing really different as far as what they run offensively and the things that they do and how they play."

Cronin is familiar with Lloyd's style of coaching and will be prepared for whatever he throws at the Bruins in the ballgame.

The Wilcats are off a struggle of a start to the season with a 4-4 record and their wins coming against strictly mid-major Division I programs.

Bottom line, the Wildcats' record can be deceiving due to the fact that they were a preseason top-10 team in the national rankings and still possess elite talent all over the floor. It will not be a game that the Bruins will be able to take lightly whatsoever.

"Obviously, they've got a world of talent," Cronin said " ... He's probably got four new starters, a multitude of new players, whether it's transfers or freshman, and he played a brutal schedule early. You had to play [No.12] Duke, who you had beaten them the year before when you were the veteran team, had to play at Wisconsin, where people in the Big Ten say, 'Good luck'. ... I just think they played a really hard schedule when you have a new team, and you've got to incorporate so many new pieces, they've played a really hard schedule."

It will be another test similar to what the Bruins saw from No. 12 Oregon last Sunday. These are two teams with new players that are still meshing together and the talent level is fairly even between the two programs. It will be an intense matchup that likely comes to the wire in the final minutes.

The contest is technically at a neutral site away from the Wilcats' campus, but the crowd will expectedly be covered in red and the Bruins will surely have to treat this as a true road game. Cronin and his guys are ready for the test to continue improving and take down a talented team.

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